Free will
Free will is having control over choices and actions. People believe that free will is part of cultural life and it is crucial on how people interact with each other and how they view the world. In addition, free will exist due to the moral responsibility justification. Individuals believe that since they are morally responsible agents, they must have the free will or rather the ability to choose actions and be accountable and responsible for one's actions (McKenna & Pereboom, 2016). Free will also allow individuals to make decisions in a reasoned manner and control their thoughts. If there would be no free will, people would lack self-control over their thoughts. They would not have alternatives to the decisions and they would not make reasoned choices. People would be under the control of others and thus, they would suffer from loss of self-control and loss of reasoning (McKenna & Pereboom, 2016). Vincent, van, & Hoven, (2011) argue that in free will, individuals need virtue responsibility, role responsibility, outcome responsibility, causal responsibility, capacity responsibility, and liability responsibility. These types of responsibilities mean that in free will, people are expected to hold the responsibility tracks capacity.
Taking the ethical position, I believe that our actions may be beyond our control. Thus, I would like to introduce the word ‘determinism' and argue that individuals do not act freely. This is because the universe is controlled by the natural laws and thus individuals not have free will. People do not have control over anything including choices and decisions but rather, they act according to the laws of nature (McKenna & Pereboom, 2016). Thus, individuals actions are not free since they do not choose the actions and the consequences are not up to them. It is important to understand that ‘freedom’ is indefinite since people have political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of petition, among other freedoms. The kind of freedom that the paper is arguing about is the metaphysical freedom which encompasses the power to do one's activities (McKenna & Pereboom, 2016).People are not free to do something and thus, free will is just an illusion. Another point is that if individuals do not have free will, they are not morally responsible. Note that to have a moral responsibility, individuals need to take their own desires and actions. However, nature does not allow individuals to have choices nor do they make decisions. They adhere to the law of nature and the actions are influenced by the determinate forces.
Focusing on the free-will debate, I argue that all events are controlled by the universe and human freedom is an illusion. Freedom and determinism is a debatable topic. Individuals regard themselves as free and responsible for their actions and this raise the debate on how individuals can control the inevitable events of the universe. The laws of the universe govern all things including human actions. Note that free will allows individuals to have alternative actions and take moral responsibility. Focusing on the law of the universe, individuals are not responsible for their actions since the actions are influenced by nature (McKenna & Pereboom, 2016). Even though we cannot abandon the moral responsibility, it is important to consider the nature and existence. I feel that philosophers should study the topic of free will and determinism to evaluate whether generic and social conditions influence thoughts and actions or whether people have free will. This will help individuals understand their actions; whether they are controlled by nature or whether they should responsible for their own actions.
References
McKenna Michael., & Pereboom Derk (2016). Free Will: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledg
Vincent, N. A., van, . P. I., & Hoven, J. (2011). Moral Responsibility [recurso electrónico]: Beyond Free Will
and Determinism. Paises Bajos: Springer Netherlands.
