2. Free Will Or Predetermined?
As a child I was told by my parents that everyone has free will
that God does exist and is all knowing but He gave us free will to
make our own choices. As I have grown older I have wondered if
that was true. If God is all knowing and is already aware of what
decisions human beings will make before they make them, is that
free will?
How can an outcome already be known if the decision has yet to
be made?
Is what people call free will pre-determined or reactionary?
3. Dualism
This view holds that what exists is either
physical or mental (“spiritual”); some
things, such as a human person, have
both a physical component (a physical
body) and a mental component (a
mind).
4. Materialism
(or physicalism) This view holds that
only the physical exists. Accordingly,
so-called mental things are in some
sense manifestations of an underlying
physical reality. (Not to be confused
metaphysical materialism with the
doctrine that the most important thing
is to live comfortably and acquire
wealth.)
5. Idealism
This view holds that only the mental (or
“spiritual”) exists. Accordingly, so-
called physical things are in some sense
manifestations of the mind or of
thought.
6. Thomas Hobbes
• (1588-1679) viewed perception or sense
as a precipice to thinking. Because a
human being is able to reason and
therefore decide, this is a form of free
will.
7. Olivia Sabuco de Nantes
• (1562-?) believed that” the properties of
the mind are not physical properties”
therefore, the soul “governs the affects,
movements and actions of humans”. She
argued that the connection between body
and soul occurs throughout the brain.
8. Rene Descartes
(1596-1650) felt he established
metaphysical dualism. He figured that
because the “mind is not in space and
doesn’t move, is not subject to physical
laws, therefore it is free” and thus
allows humans to have free will.
9. Benedict de Spinoza
1632-1677) felt that “free will was an
illusion”. He felt that all things were
controlled or predetermined by the
Laws of Physics and everything that
has happened and will happen is
determined by what has already
happened beforehand.
10. Anne Finch, The Viscountess
Conway(Anne Conway)
(1631-1679) believed that God has
always existed and because God
created everything, everything is God’s
property. Since it could not exist
without God, there must not be free
will. It is the will of God.
11. Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von
Leibniz
(1646–1716) There is a sufficient reason
for every occurrence, it follows that
there is something outside the series of
events that is its own sufficient reason.
This “something outside,” is God. God
is a sufficient reason for God’s own
existence, God is a necessary being,
therefore nothing exists without God.
12. Free Will vs. Pre-determined?
•There is in my opinion such a thing as
Free Will.
•Just as there are actions and reactions,
such is the same to free will. God, being
omnipotent sees all.
•The first time free will was exhibited on
record was in the story of Adams and Eve.
13. References
• Bruder, K., & Moore, B. N.
(2008). Philosophy: The power
of ideas (7th ed.). Boston:
McGraw-Hill Higher
Education.
• All Pictures by Google Images
Editor's Notes
Some philosophers believe that God or the Supreme Being is outside of the reality that human beings dwell in and because of that, He or She is already aware of the choices we make prior to conceiving the notion or attempting the action, but because we human beings are not omnipotent, we are still capable of free will. God only knows a head of time which decision or action we will take and the outcome or result. Other philosophers argue that If God is all knowing and knows which choice or action beforehand, then human beings do not truly have free will. Even still, there are select philosophers who argue that heredity and environment dictate what choices we will make. According to them, our genetic makeup determines what we choose or do. There is also the view that human beings are “nothing more than bodies, moving in reaction to immaterial forces” (Moore & Bruder 2008 p.121)
(Moore & Bruder 2008 p.105)
(Moore & Bruder 2008 p.105)
(Moore & Bruder 2008 p.105)
Hobbes was the first great modern materialist. He argued that all that exists is bodies in motion. Because perception or sense were precursors to ideas, it cannot be God but human beings that decides their fate thus creating free will. (Moore & Bruder 2008 p.114-115, 136)
Olivia Sabuco de Nantes argued that proposed that the connection between body and soul occurs throughout the brain, thus is human and not from God. (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 115, 135)
Though he was a Catholic, Descartes believed there were things that could be determined by the power of the Church.(Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 107, 113)
A philosopher named Benedictus de Spinoza, for example, felt that “free will was an illusion” (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 118). Spinoza surmised that whatever happened to humans or in was due to “the nature of substance” (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 118). Spinoza felt that free will had nothing to do with what was going to happen and all material things were controlled by the Laws of Physics and everything that happens was determined by what had happened beforehand (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 118). Spinoza theorized that mental thoughts and matter were all in one and whatever one thinks is to be expected in the body. (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 118)
According to Moore and Bruder (2008) Anne Conway argued against parts of the philosophies of Descartes, Hobbes, and Spinoza. An essentialist who argued that everything other than God has both physical and mental essences—God is totally mental (Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 116)
According to Moore and Bruder Leibniz argued that because something has occurred or is occurring leads one to believe in a necessary Being or God.(2008)(Moore & Bruder 2008 p. 437-438)
Completing this course only reinforced my initial belief. The different philosophies I have read for and against free will were valid on both sides and I have found that my belief falls directly in the middle of the pros and cons. I am a believer in free will. I believe that all human beings have free will. I believe there is a God but he gives us choices. He knows the outcome of whichever path we choose however; it is up to humans to choose which way they will go. It is my belief that with this free will comes consequences, some good and some not so good. Only God knows the outcome of whatever path humans’ choose to walk down; it is up to them to make the decision to choose which way to go and they must be prepared to live or die by the choice they have made.
