Skip to main content

Do we really have free will? Free will vs Determinism


 Is free will an illusion? 

This is a question that boggles the minds of lots of people including myself, well what is life without questions? I mean these are one of  the things that makes life meaningful so without further ado I will delve into the contents. But first of all, let's talk about determinism 

 

Determinism according to the oxford dictionary means that "the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions".Determinism is a belief in the inevitability of causation. Everything that happens is the only possible thing that could happen. The chains and networks of causes are so powerful and inexorable that every outcome is inevitable. We are already locked in to everything else that is going to happen in the entire future of the universe. If you knew all the causal principles and had enough information about the present, you could predict the future with 100% accuracy. The universe resembles a giant machine, grinding alone exactly as it must inevitably continue to do, following rigid rules. 

     Well maybe determinism is true and free will is just an illusion 😳, maybe that's what our brain wants us to believe which makes it more weird because we actually think before we act right? 

But for that statement to be correct, we need to actually think the thought before thinking it, uhn? Am as confused as you are right now.

 Well let me take for example, you wake up in the morning tired and hungry obviously, and you decide to eat oatmeal, well you could argue that it was your decision to eat oatmeal and that you thought about it randomly, but did you really? Let's see..

    Let's take into consideration these two things

Event causation and Agent causation..


    Event causation means that no physical event can occur without having been caused by a previous physical event so many libertarians concede that the physical world itself is deterministic like a football is flying through the air because someone kicked it or rain falls from the sky because of evaporation and condensation.

   Agent causation means that an agent - a being propelled by a mind - can start a whole chain of causality that wasn't caused by anything else so the person who kicked the ball most likely did so because he just decided to do it. So this notion implies that an agent has the ability to affect the causal chain of the universe and they can make stuff happen on their own, well many philosophers find this idea unattainable like where would these free decisions - the ones that launch entirely new causal chains come from? well if you can find any argument that points to this fact you have just reinforced that action is caused and not free, well the best argument is that it just feels an awful lot like we are free.


  18th century French philosopher Baron D'holbach said that none of our actions are actually free, D'holbach believes that everything that's happening now is as a result of an unbroken chain of events. Everything he said ( is the inevitable result of what came before, including everything that we do.) This means that humans and actions are just part of the physical world bound by its physical laws. This view is mostly explained by reductionism


  Reductionism: the view that all part of the world and our own experience can be traced back - or reduced to one singular thing. So for example you see your mind as being capable of making free decisions, that what goes on in your head when you make a choice is nothing like bats and balls.

  Well mental states = brain states = biological states and biological states are physical states and physical states as we say is deterministic, there is just no room for free will.

  But if I didn't decide to eat oatmeal this morning, why does it feel like I did? Libertarians say that the difference between the causes of human action and physical events like a bat hitting a ball is that our actions have all sorts of invisible causes that happen in our brains. 


 So as they say,  belief + desire + temperament = actions. The belief that oat meal is nutritious, the desire for healthy nourishment and the temperament to enjoy warm and carb comfort foods. You might argue that this belief, desire, temperament may lead to other options like maybe corn flakes but if you think deep enough, you will see that there are several factors that ruled out this option..

   So we are back to my initial statement that for free will to exist, we have to think our thoughts before actually thinking it 😎 drops mic.


  So can we now conclude that free will is indeed an illusion, and we are just living in a predetermined world... 


                      Image credits: Google images


  

If you have any contributions to make, kindly comment down below and don't forget to share ❤.

  

        


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUTISM: HOW SHE OVERCAME THE STIGMA. A BRIEF STORY OF MEGAN

OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF AUTISM:   Autism Spectrum Disorder is a life-long disorder that is neurological and developmental. It impacts an individual’s ability to interact with others and learn. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a variety of developmental disorders including Asperger’s syndrome. Children can be diagnosed with ASD as early as two or three years old. This usually occurs when they don’t hit certain developmental milestones. Those with milder forms of ASD might not be diagnosed until adulthood, like in many cases of Asperger’s syndrome.  Symptoms cover two general groups; difficulties with social communication (lack of consistent eye contact, slow to respond to verbal attempts to gain attention, conversational difficulties) and repetitive behaviors (repeating words/phrases, becoming overly focused on certain subjects, sensitivity to sensory input). Sleep problems and mood irritability are also often implicated in ASD. Historically, Autism Spectrum Disorders have c
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY REACHING OUT TO YOUR LOVED ONES REGULARLY IS IMPORTANT

WHY REACHING OUT TO YOUR LOVED ONES REGULARLY IS IMPORTANT Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget the importance of reaching out to our loved ones. We sometimes view connecting with our families and friends as a chore or just another thing we “have to do.” We dread the idea of getting on the phone with long-winded relatives, especially when the conversations drag on and take us away from the other things we intend to do. Yet these small moments will be the ones we cherish years down the road when these family members are no longer with us. How to reach out to people, how to connect when they know you but doesn’t understand you. How you make them understand how you are feeling at that moment. They all will give advice, but at that moment you don’t need advice, you need their warmth. And that one person whose warmth you seek desperately but he leaves you alone in that cold dark place where he has himself lead you . How do you pick up th
Post a Comment
Read more

PEACE OF SPIRIT HACKS TO IMPLEMENT NOW: 16 TRICKS NOBODY TELLS YOU

MOST CLEVER LIFE HACkS THAT WILL SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE                                             Google images What are life hacks? Life hack is any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency in all walks of life (Wikipedia). There are things we ought to know that will significantly simplify our lives and make us see things from different perspectives. Without further ado, let's delve into the contents. Learn first aid basics, you might be needed to save a life Technicians, janitors, secretaries are indirectly powerful in an office. You might need anything, make friends with them If you're given a business card, snap it; just in case you lose it If you can't afford two, don't buy it. Whenever you text the wrong person, change your phone to airplane mode. When the message fails to deliver you can delete it If you want to park in a town at night, it's advisable to park in front of a bank. They have CCTV cameras, jus
Post a Comment
Read more