Free_Will_Versus_Determinisim

Free Will Versus Determinism Betty Adams 7/20/2011 Introduction to Philosophy/PHI 105 Carrie Spencer Free will versus determinism, what does it mean' Well, free will is, simply put, the ability of mankind to make its own choices, from whether or not to take out the garbage to whether or not a man is guilty of murder.. Determinism, on the other hand, states that the behavior of an atom is governed by physical law. If mankind truly has free will then the atoms that make up man would therefore not be governed by physical law alone, and if physical law truly does govern how atoms react then mankind would have no free will. Both of these statements are equally valid and in most peoples minds true, but how can it be so with such contradictive points (Moore, B. N. & Bruder, K., 2008)' The statement “the behavior of atoms is governed entirely by physical law” uses logic to assert that it is correct. When an atom is subjected to heat it increases its speed of movement and slows down when cooled. When superheated in the presence of carbon, the atoms in a piece of iron will rearrange allowing carbon atoms to fill in the gaps, creating steel. All of these examples solidify the stance that determinism is true. But on the other hand, if determinism is true and mankind has no true free will and everything is governed by physical law. The statement “suppose that I, of my own free will, move my arm. Whatever the circumstances were in which I chose to move my arm, I could always have chosen otherwise and not moved my arm. Therefore, when I moved my arm of my own free will, my arm, and thus the atoms in my arm, did not have to move, even given the existing circumstances” argues that free will has to be true by giving an example (Moore, B. N. & Bruder, K. 2008). Both of these arguments are equally valid although there should have been more evidence gathered on both sides to argue their points. In the minds of most people there is probably doubt over which side is correct, many probably believe both to be true to some degree. References Moore, B. N. & Bruder, K. (2008). Philosophy: The power of ideas (7th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved on 7/20/11.