FREE WILL

Determinism VS Libertarianism

Determinism VS Libertarianism

Introduction

Determinism is the belief that every event caused by a preceding event (the universe governed by fixed physical laws) that there is no such thing as chance, and that there is one determinable future (Suppes, 1993). Essentially, it is like a domino effect; the future of the universe has determined by its physical laws ever since the big bang. As a natural consequence, Hard Determinists believe that free will (the ability of humans to make choices). As a logical consequence, it cannot exist in a deterministic universe. A Libertarian believes that humans have free will, and; therefore, determinism is wrong (Pereboom, 2003). A way to try to prove free will exists is answering the question:"could we have done otherwise"? In this paper, we will compare and contrast Determinism and Libertarianism.

Discussion

The nature of free will has been a long discussed and controversial issue in both philosophy and law. For a person to be held responsible for his or her actions the thoughts, which led to the action must have originated in his or her mind, otherwise; this person would have only been participating in an endless chain of causes and effects which forced him or her to commit the action (Suppes, 1993). Just as, a gun cannot be held entirely responsible for the death of another person, since it was not the gun's choice to do so, humans cannot be held responsible for the genetic and environmental conditions which guided their minds along a predetermined path (Watson, 1982).

In terms of free will, there are three prevailing theories: Determinism, Libertarianism, and Libertarianism. Determinism, simply put, is the view that all actions and thoughts, no matter how seemingly free or impulsively determined by previous events (Kane, 1996). According to this theory, the universe can be seen as a hugely complex machine; if an external observer happened to know the exact position and state of everything when the universe started, this being would theoretically be able to predict every event that would occur in the future (Pereboom, 2003). On the other hand, Libertarianism states that while it is indeed true that most events and many of our own thoughts and actions predetermined, there are some thoughts and actions that occur spontaneously; that is, they are uncaused. Because hard determinists suggest that all thoughts and actions have predetermined, their view is incompatible with free will and moral responsibility as they are most commonly defined; In response to this disturbing fact, Libertarianism created (Watson, 1982).

Libertarianism states that human behavior predetermined, people are still responsible for their actions. According to Libertarianism, free will redefined as being any action originating from internal states, rather than a spontaneous, arbitrary choice. So while, a criminal's mind may be considered a product of his genetics and environment, he still held responsible for the internal conditions in his mind that caused him to commit the crime (Suppes, 1993).

In my own opinion, I believe that Determinism is the strongest of the three theories; it is the only ...