Free Will vs. Determinism
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| Free Will vs. Determinism
Having spent the past several classes considering the question of whether we have free will or whether our actions/choices are determined for us, it is now time for you to express your view on this question. To help with this, I’ve provided you with a number of interesting and provocative quotes that support either one side of the question or the other. You may use them to help you settle your mind on the question. Having settled your mind on the question, write your reflection so that it expresses your view on this subject. Be sure to include the reasoning that you are using to arrive at your position. You also need to include a ½ page paragraph with your view of Ivan Osokin and how it relates to the whole conversation about free will and determinism. Be sure to cite examples from the text. Determinism "Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has had the free will to select his course." - Clarence Darrow "Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws." - Charles Darwin "Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper." "The initial configuration of the universe may have been chosen by God, or it may itself have been determined by the laws of science. In either case, it would seem that everything in the universe would then be determined by evolution according to the laws of science, so it is difficult to see how we can be masters of our fate." - Stephen Hawking "A man can surely do what he wills to do, but cannot determine what he wills." - Schopenhauer "In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity." - Baruch Spinoza "Everything happens through immutable laws, ...everything is necessary... There are, some persons say, some events which are necessary and others which are not. It would be very comic that one part of the world was arranged, and the other were not; that one part of what happens had to happen and that another part of what happens did not have to happen. If one looks closely at it, one sees that the doctrine contrary to that of destiny is absurd; but there are many people destined to reason badly; others not to reason at all others to persecute those who reason." - Voltaire Free Will Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will. - Jawaharlal Nehru God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us. - Niccolo Machiavelli (Macchiavelli) Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you. - Jean-Paul Sartre The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity. - John Dewey The only part of the conduct of anyone for which he is amenable to society is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign. - John Stuart Mill Liberty, taking the word in its concrete sense, consists in the ability to choose. - Simone Weil Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. - Voltaire The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states. He hath freedom whoso beareth clean and constant heart within. - Quintus Ennius Who then is free? the wise man who is lord over himself; Whom neither poverty nor death, nor chains alarm; strong to withstand his passions and despise honors, and who is completely finished and rounded off in himself. - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires Directory: ourpages -> auto -> 2013 2013 -> Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question 2013 -> Historical periods to memorize 2013 -> Chapter 27, Section 2 Notes The Organization and Organization of Man 2013 -> Teacher: Mr. Sergio Maldonado Date 2013 -> Teacher: Mr. Sergio Maldonado Date 2013 -> Hornbostal-Sachs Instrument Classification System 2013 -> Ib world Lit How to narrow a topic and develop an argument for an essay 2013 -> How old is the Atlantic Ocean 2013 -> Personal s. M. A. R. T. Goals 2013 -> Caribbean Poetry: Barbados Download 7.7 Kb. Share with your friends:
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