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Free Will, Determinism, and Responsibility

There are many events in a person’s life that have an impact so large, that the person’ life is forever changed. Hopefully most such events are positive, and help him in his life. However, there is also the undeniable fact that bad things happen. It is not uncommon to hear someone wondering aloud why an event took place. A person’s actions come into question, and it is wondered what the person’s motivation was. Once we start questioning the events of our lives, we begin to test out different theories that we have heard over time. “It was fate,” or “It is part of God’s plan,” or other theories which attempt to put some meaning and reasoning behind events in our lives. Human’s also begin to wonder how it is that their actions are determined. Aside from these various explanations, philosopher’s have created explanations which can tell the story of human action. There are four main positions that one can maintain. Hard determinism, compatibilism, indeterminism, and scep!

ticism. Each of the stances holds a different explanation for human action which can be argued and debated. I believe that the idea of compatibilism is the best answer to this problem. Combining determinism wit

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Indeterminism states that at least some events, mostly human actions, are not completely caused. However in Freedom and Necessity, Ayer finds situation where one can be responsible while their action’s are causally determined. The first is when we are compelled by another person to do something. He claims that a person can only be said to not be morally responsible if there is no reasonable choice to be made. You can do what the gunman tells you, or you can make your own choice to risk getting shot. If a person’s actions are causally determined, that means that they have no control over them; the action was determined without their knowledge or consent. The line of thought which is responsible for this argument, is this: we make our choices based on our character (which we do not determine), and our choices determine our actions. On the surface, this does not sound like it is possible. This claim states that humans cannot be held responsible for their actions because all of their actions are determined to happen, and they have no control. The main argument for indeterminism is that it is a rejection of causation, there is no explanation, and without explanation, there can be no responsibility. Therefore, even though we are acting out of free will, we cannot be held responsible. h responsibility makes for the best argument and explanation for human action. ” It is the attempt to allow a person’s actions to be causally determined, yet the person still be responsible. The second instance of constraint is when there is a disorder which controls what we do. The other option is that our choices are not accidents.

Approximate Word count = 899
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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