philosophy edit

aziz alhakbani

12/4/2017

professor. cuddy

philosophy 103

belief paper #2

Free Will vs Determinism

Introduction

Free will and determinism is something that philosophers, psychologists and scientists have been struggling with for years now. This paper will be an argumentative essay on whether free will or determination which one is more prominent. This will be done through analysis of two articles. One of the articles is “Free Will Vs Free Choice” by Gerhard Adam and the second article is “Determinism, Free Will, and Moral Responsibility” by Vir Narain.

Part I

Gerhard Adam in his article “Free will vs Free choice” tries to bring a clear understanding of the concept of free will which he believes have been confused by free choice. According to him, free will is an illusion and does not exist. He argues that there are choices that always exists in each and every step and action that negates the aspect of free will. The author uses the example of computer programming to explain how free choice is what exists rather than free will. In the example, he shows how one steps provides choices for the next step that have to be selected for one to proceed to another step (Adam, 2013). This according to him brings about free choice and not free will.

Gerhard Adam believes that fee will is all about the person making the choice being given absolute freedom of choosing and not being given directions and hints of what the next step should be. He however, does not brings the concept of determinism, however, what he drives at is that determinism happens in so many ways, some of which looks like free will but in essence is some form of determinism. According to Adam, the choices acts as decision points that makes him believe that the things that human beings engage in are all but predetermined in a certain way.

Vir Narain in his article starts by giving a detailed definition of the determinism and free will and how they intertwine with moral responsibility. Narain believes that determinism provides that the universe is governed by the strictest natural laws, events arise naturally and inevitably from the causative factors that follow these laws (Narain, 2009). According to him, the determinist position has been challenged by the discovery of the indeterminacy at the level of subatomic particles.

Narain is of the opinion that free will is more prominent in the world looking at the various aspects of living. Determinism according to his is crafted by people who feel their freedom to chose has been curtailed. However, for larger majority, free will is what have been existing and mostly seen in how people arrive at choices. He uses the example of the various freedoms and rights that people have been given to prove how free will is the order of the day. Determinism according to him is a concept that works perfect in places where there is superiority in terms of leadership, where people have to obey orders such as in military scenarios.

Part II

From the arguments of the two authors about “free will and determination”, there are various points of disagreements that can be highlighted. One is that Gerhard Adam believe that free will is an illusion as free choice, which is basically an element of determinism is more prominent. On the other side Vir Narain believe that free will is the one that is applicable as people are given made option, which cannot be argued to be part of determinism. The arguments by both authors have senses in them and also have elements of inductive and deductive reasoning in them. For example, there are general conclusions that are made about these two authors. These generalizations can be said to have been influenced by the various biases that they exhibit towards one another.

This is because objective reasoning free from bias can make arguments that there are instances when free will comes into play while there are instances where determinism comes into play. This is because both authors have evidence of instances where their position comes into play. What they avoid to do is to analyze the two sides to see instances where their arguments of the other side also come into play. Biases is the main reason for such instances where people such as authors and analysts decide to just take one side of the story or argument and makes a point as if that is the only true position (Mathewson, 2010). Bias as have been identified by philosopher is a major hinderance to correct reasoning and judgement.

In the disagreements that is exhibited by the two authors, there are many factors of bias that can be said to have affected such reasoning. One is cognitive biases, emotions, and inaccurate memories. It is therefore, important that any person reading the article of the two authors should be very careful only to take those points that are facts and leave the emotions and opinions as such is clogged by biases.

Gerhard Adam can make counter arguments about the opinion of Vir Narain. Adam believes that determinism is what rules the decisions and choices that people make in the world in regard to various issues. Adam can therefore, tell Narain that the physical world operates according to rigid and predictable laws, and since human are physical in nature, our choices are thus constrained by those laws. Conscious human minds are the product of physical brain activity, and nothing more. This position is at the heart of the following argument for determination from materialism. In making an inductive reasoning, it can be said that human choices are exclusively a function of brain activity and brain activity is constrained by rigid natural laws, therefore, human choices are constrained by the rigid natural laws.

Another counterargument that Adam can give to Narain in regard to the issue of free will and determinism is that scientists from many disciplines also propose prediction indicators of human behavior, they tell people that there is a genetic basis for sexual orientation, violent behavior, shyness, and even liberal vs conservative political preference. This means that there are social influences that impact on the choices that people make in terms of careers, hobbies, food preference and religious affiliations.

Vir Narain can also make a counterargument against the opinion Gerhard Adam by saying that free will advocate sees our final decision-making process differently. This is because the various motives mechanically pile up within the mind, and some are stronger than others. However, will all that people be able to thoughtfully pick through the competing motives and free select one over the others, even one of the weaker ones. This shows that people have the ability to break the chain of motives in the mind and act as they choose. This is what can be said to consists of free will.

Another counterargument that Narain can give Adam is the fact that throughout the day, there are thousands of small decisions that people make, such as what to eat, wear, read, and talk to among many others. As people navigate through this ocean of choices, they typically feel very much in control of what they do. This is what makes it clear that there are many instances where free will is seen to be in action as opposed to determinisms.

PARTIII

both authors provided important information on free will and determinism, nevertheless, mistakes in reasoning or better known as fallacies can be identified in both authors articles. people are prone to these mistakes in reasoning and falling into one of them is really easy but we should try our best to minimise them. Narian for example stated in his article that the freedom we live in nowadays is a sign that Free will is more prominent. the author in this example uses the false cause fallacy , since, free will has nothing to do with the freedoms the government allows you, to some degree.

In conclusion, it is true that both arguments of Adam and Narain are both right but they can be said to be statements of half-truth. This is because they only give one side of the story making the other side somehow nonexistence. This is what philosophers have described in fallacies as people chose to say what they want to knowing there is no prove of the existence of the facts. It should therefore, be noted that both determinism and free will play part in the way decisions are made by human beings and each have its specific context where they apply.

References

Adam, G. (2013). Free Will Vs Free Choice. Sage Journal, (7)245-276.

Mathewson, C. (2010). Introduction to Philosphy and its concepts. New York : McGraw Hill Education.

Narain, V. (2009). Determinism, Free Will, and Moral Responsibility. Journal of Contemporary Philosophy, (4)456-478.