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His theory suggests that the ideas themselves take on lives of their own. However, if they are, in their inception, human, doesn't the person who first created them, who first thought them up have the free will to do so? Thus, the arguments made by both Dennett (2007) and the textbook are sound ones, but the idea of free will still has a fighting chance up against these clearly logical theories. If one were to say that one was controlled by his or her biology, or something a bit more flexible such as the instinct we often ascribe to animals, than it is to forget the diversity that we, as a race, have achieved. Today, our world is populated by people who not only speak different languages and have created different cultures, but it is also filled with those who have different likes and dislikes, and who are differently talented. Although many of these variables are as a result of biology, such as one's ability to acquire the...
The diversity displayed in the human race is not seen in other species, even in the primates that we often compare ourselves to. For this reason, it can be argued that people are not biologically predisposed to make certain choices, but they do so because they are different, and those differences drive them to choose in accordance with their likes, dislikes, and self-concept. Thus, free will is born.
References
Dennett, Dan. (2007). Talks Dan Dennett on Dangerous Memes. Retrieved September 1,
2009, from TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes.html
Q3: Define free will and determinism. Discuss how free will and determinism are relevant to the following theories: Free will may be defined as the ability to make decisions independent of social, biological, and cognitive shaping mechanisms; determinism is the idea one is subject to such forces at cannot fundamentally alter one's future trajectory in a meaningful manner. Freud's psychoanalytic theory Freud took a highly deterministic view of how the human psyche was
Free will vs. Determinism To define his evolving notions of Original Sin in Christian theology, Augustine solidified in the doctrine Christianity a notion of the radical freedom of the human will -- what made human beings wonderfully distinct from animals, he argued, was the human ability to freely choose good or evil in action. Augustine's approach to the "free choice of the will" assumed that "humans had a will" and a
Humbert is awaiting trial for murder, and act of his own free will. No one will argue that Humbert could have made other choices in this case. However, it can be argued whether his sudden coronary in the end was a twist of bad fate, or of good fate. On one hand, it ended his life, on the other; it saved him from life in prison. Lolita's death in
How does this shed light on the question, "Are we free to do what we want with our lives?" It doesn't shed light on it, so much as reveal that the question was asked from the darkness. Our "free will" is an illusion, but we do act, and our actions are our own. They have manifold causes, but not one of them could possibly be "outside of nature" or outside
Ekstrom 121) The greatest strength of the concept of free will is that it allows evil deeds to be explained as poor conceptions of a weak human mind. The individual abilty to learn and become a greater agent of responsibility seeks a concept of free will to explain how this can be done and with good reason. The individual has no reason to express learning and to grow from human ideas
Free Will and Determinism From a theological viewpoint, human free will may not exist at all, since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, the destiny of each individual is determined from the beginning to time. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards all believed this, and before modern times it was the most common position in Christianity. Human life is also determined by certain physical and natural laws that exist in