Throughout modern history humanity has consistently worn blinders; ignoring the total potential of freedom. In Civilization and Its Discontent, Sigmund Freud proposes the idea that an individual’s freedom is inhibited by his or her own guilt. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argue that the very structure of society represses the freedom of the entire working class in their book, The Communist Manifesto. Both viewpoints show how man’s freedom is much more restricted than one would think. That…
whether Romeo and Juliet had any control over their lives. If their lives played out by the choices they made (free will) or were it fate in charge all along? Were they puppets in their own lives or did they actually make their own decisions? “Fate or destiny is a supernatural power predetermining the path of one’s life.” (Introduction to English Studies, 2018) “Free will is the idea that we are free to make decisions unhindered by external forces.” (Bartleby, 2016) The book begins by saying “a…
Taking the Environment into Account The argument of determinism and free will has been disputed and contemplated for many years. People are forced to make decisions and have a given set options to choose from that are inescapable. Those situations may be a direct result of previous decisions or where the situation is taking place. Things do not usually turn out the way we really want it. I would concur that individuals can settle on decisions that shape their lives, but at the same time,…
The idea of fate and free will is a complicated concept, and the many aspects of how free an individual is, remains unclear. In The Sisters Brother Eli and Charlie Sisters grew up in the same violent environment, but are comparably different. The main difference between them is, which unlike Charlie, Eli utilizes his free will constantly, he has a sense of morality, and he also has the determination to change his fate. To be able to deviate from the customs of ones life, they must have strong…
of written history we have had a question that has been debated by many scholars and laymen as well. Is it fate that controls our destiny or the actions we decide to do? I myself am on the side of free will. The play Romeo and Juliet demonstrates this quite clearly. A real life example of why we have free will are that we have a well developed brain. This might seem none important, but it is what lets us have cognitive thoughts. We can predict what will happen if we make a certain choice and…
and dumping the body on the side of the road, the choice is yours. Americans are blessed with the power of free will, you are in charge of the choices you make and the consequences that come along with them. You are the master of your own fate and you are responsible for your future. You are in charge of yourself, the choice is yours on how you plan on living your life. Everybody wants to be free and everybody intends on creating the most extravagant life they possibly…
In my argument, I am going to support Strawson’s claims and argue against Libertarians that it is not possible to be truly morally responsible for one’s actions even with this idea of indeterminacy. Libertarians specifically believe that our free will allows us to have true moral responsibility. In order to fully understand Strawson’s views and the views of those that counter him, we must revisit what his basic argument is. As human beings, we make specific choices and carry out actions the way…
have all been raised to believe that we are free to make our own choices and create our own lives. We have all been told that we can do anything we want, and achieve anything at our own free will. But can we really? Are we all actually free? There are many views of what freedom is and how we achieve freedom, and I am going to argue that Ayer’s views of being free and not free are in fact correct. When talking about the philosophy of freedom and free will there are two ways the world can be.…
If we live in a world where free will existed we would always be morally responsible for our actions because we always have options to do otherwise, this is known as the principle of alternate possibilities. For now let us assume that we live in a determinist world where our life events are predetermined would we be responsible for our actions even though we have no control over them? It is very hard to imagine how someone could possibly be responsible for actions they had no control over but…
In the first chapter of God’s Many-Splendored Image, the theme of freedom is obvious because that is the title of the chapter. Being free implies that we are like God, and God does not have a limitation of freedom, so we don’t either. On the same note, mental/spiritual freedom turns out to be more valuable than the physical that most adore. Human freedom does allow us to choose, due to the fact that we are divine beings made in God’s image, and that we can determine the mental happenings in a…