The Question of Free Will Is One That Has Lingered Over Us for Decades Now

Though it may seem as if one may choose their actions throughout each day and lead a life they presume they are choosing, what if that wasn’t the case? While studdying free will we often see two extremes. We can call them team free-will and team free-will-predetermined. Both teams have studied humans freedom of action and moral responsibility. Both have an understanding of the various models of will, as well as Determinism vs. indeterminism. All important topics we will examine throughout this paper.

Although what we often fail to take into account, are the statistics. For example, if there is a white male whose parents make a few million dollars a year and he attends prestigious private schools his whole life, what are the odds he will get a high paying job straight out of college? Very likely. This doesn’t take into account the classes he failed that his parents opted him out of, it doesn’t take into account how much of an asshole he is to every waitress whom serves him dinner, this does not take into account any choices that he has personally made weather one may assume they are free will or predetermined. This only looks at statistics. Any white wealthy male like this one, is statistically most likely going to do well in life.

Now the team free-will may argue that this is due to every single choice he made. But they would be kidding themselves if they didn’t take into account the choices that were made based apon the money he had or the choices he was offered due to his race and gender. On the other hand, team free-will-predetermnined may say all of the choices he made were inherently predetermined, and he was meant to make every choice and end up exactly where he is.

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Though, this team must look past the law of nature, because this male is really just another statistic. No matter the various choices bad or good that have been determined for him throughout his life, his gender and wealth will often bail him out. Many like him, may choose to break the law, but many like him may use the power they have as a wealthy white male in our society, to bail themselves out of trouble, and escape what may have been their predetermined future.

Some of this males life, could be free will while other pieces could predetermined, but which is which? If we were to look at an african american male, raised the same, with the same amount of money within his family, would the average statistics shift? Most defintally. So what is often looked over when examining free-will is not predetermination, but common denominators within groups of people. We are not capable of stripping ethnicity, wealth, gender ect. from this equation, so we must include it. We must look at what is statistically likely for certain individuals, to determine what is statistically unlikely. It is at that point in which we will be capable of really asking ourselfs, not if free-will does or does not exist, but rather, how much power does the freedom of action really withhold in its ability to determine ones own freewill?

What exactly is free will? “free will has traditionally been conceived of as a kind of power to control one’s choices and actions” Many believe that the power to control is withheld by themselves, implying that each individual is capable of making there own desitions. On the other hand, some believe that this power is held by something other or greater then themselves. So why are we so curious to weather we hold this power or not?

Closely associated with the power of freewill there comes the freedom of action and moral responsibility. It is often presumed that if we did not have the power of freewill we would not have the freedom of action. 'Thomas Hobbes suggested that freedom consists in there being no external impediments to an agent doing what he wants to do” That being said, as long as there are no laws, physical boundries or other external factors, Hobbes believed that humans freely choose there actions.

For example, If Sarah wanted to sit and watch a movie, she would be free and capable of doing so. Although, what if the power were out and Sarah could not turn on her TV? This examines “the apparent fact that agents can possess free will without also having freedom of action.” Though, Sarah possess free will, she does not have her freedom of action due to external factors that have prevented her from turning on her TV.

Now lets take a look at moral responisibility. Though we may differ in opinion on specifically what may be moral, it is widely agreed apon that if an agent does not have free will, it doesn’t have moral responsibility. For example, can we hold tornados morally responsible for the damage they do? no and that is simply because a tornado does not have free will.

The faculties Model was the most frequently used throughout both midlevel and modern society. It was most commonly used by both Plato and Aristotle. This model shared that all living things harbored a few of the same basic capacities, growth and reproduction, being the main two. This model also stated that those with free-will heald other capacities such as intellection and volition. The “volitional faculty, is an appetite for the good; that is, it is naturally drawn to goodness.”

Therefor, philopshers who followed the faculties model believed that free agents were inherently driven to chose good. For example, if Sarah saw someone fall in front of her, she would inherently be driven to help them up. If one is capable of judgement between good and bad one must withhold intelect. So “Consequently, wherever there is intellect, there is free will” (Summa Theologiae, q. 59 a. 3). Within the faculties model if one has free will and intelect, they are driven to act apon what there perception of “good” is.

The Hierarchical Model, also referred to as 'structuralist' or “mesh” account of will, was popular among the philosopher Harry Frankfurt. This model was based apon the belief that agents have various kinds of desires. 1st order desires and 2nd order desires. It is stated that, “An agent acts on her own free will if her action is the result of a 1st order desire that she wants to become a 1st order volition.” A desire becomes a volition once an agent acts apon it. It is also then, when it is determined weather a desire is a 1st or 2nd order desire.

The reason-responsive view states that “An agent acts with free will if she is responsive to the appropriate rational considerations, and she does not act with a free will if she lacks such responsiveness.” For example, if Sarah had an essay that was due in her class tomorrow, she would plan to do it. Although, if she looked her email to find that class was postponed for 3 days, she would then choose to put off the essay. This shows that one is responsive to reasons that will influence volitions.

So now we may ask ourselves to what extent may our free will and actions determine our future? What if both destiny and free-will existed? What if we were capable of free-will only to the extent that our environment limited us to? What if we were incapable of free will only to the extent our environment limited us to?

If we take the statistics, and use them to show barriers such as racism within our society, we may see that even with free will, can ones freedom of action push them through these barriers? No. If we take the statistics, and use them to show barriers such as sexism within our society, we can see that even with a determined future, could one be limited? Yes.

It is impossible to determine weather we live in a world with free-will or not because of societal issues that make it impossible for any perosn or greater power to actually choose for any of us. Our environment surpresses too many groups of people that it is impossible to have a controll group. There is no way of knowing if the white wealthy male would have been succsellful without living in a time where money, race, and gender was not of importance.

There is no way of knowing if the black version of him did not become just as successful, without living in a time where racism did not exsit. If society was stripped of its bias’s and discrimination, we could examine if our will was free or not. We could determine if each choice one made would lead them to their determined place, or if each choice one made would lead them exactly where they where they were wanting to go. But in our society, weather we have free-will or not, it will remain unknown.

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