To What Extent Can I Determine My Own Destiny
Whether one is the master of his own will, or merely a puppet in somegrander play, has been the subject for debate for centuries. Does one haveautonomy or are they a victim of determinism' Clearly those who favorautonomy, or free will, believe that each person has their destiny in theirhands, directing it as they see fit, able to make alternate choices if theyso desire. Those who favor determinism, see the world in a differentlight. They see a world with external causes limiting one's actions andremoving the control from the individual. Some believe the two conceptsare mutually exclusive of one another, while others see them existingsymbiotically. When one considers to what extent they can determine theirown destiny, these facets of this debate must be explored. Determinism is most often defined as "generally, the doctrine thatevery fact in the universe is guided entirely by law (in Christiantheology, by God's law). All facts in the universe are dependent upon andconditioned by their causes. "Soft" determinism removes the ultimate causefrom the immediate cause of a fact; "hard" determinism describes every factas directly caused by law" (Passantino & Passantino). Those who subscrib
Concerned by the fragmentation of psychology, Richard Stevens hasdeveloped his own framework, Trimodal theory. If one holds to the belief that quantum uncertainty is a reality, the onlytheory it supports is that of random will, not free will ("QuantumMechanics"). Its basis foraction is the symbolic process. This is the doctrine of incompatibilism. With fatalism, one cannothave any action on the future as it is already set, "therefore, that humandeliberation and actions are pointless because things have to be the waythey have to be" ("Fatalism"). Autonomy, or free will, subscribers see events as a result of theagent's self-generated actions. Yet,although this sounds like the beginnings of the argument in support of freewill, it is also the basis for the argument for determinism, as this samebase of knowledge would be utilized time and time again, if one were forcedto make the same decision over and over. As an example, one could argue that if one would put theirhand into a scalding pot of water, the tendency may be to remove the handquickly. Perhaps somemasochistic tendency drove them to endure the pain. eto determinism feel that every event in life is established due to theevents that preceded it, therefore, these events are fixed ("Determinism"). In certain fleeting moments ofchoice some actions come as second nature and are clearly controlled by thearray of experiences the individual had had building up just prior to thatone moment in time. It is a belief that aperson only has free will only if they are the exclusive originating causefor their action, and they could actually have done otherwise. In the end, however, perhaps the debate of determinism and autonomy isa conundrum similar to which came first, the chicken or the egg. It is external causes that feed the mind,building up a database of information to recall at will and utilize.
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Acceptance Essays
