Essay about Determinism and Free Will - 479 Words

Determinism and Free Will I began the discussion by taking the determinist point of view and stated that human behavior can be determined by the laws of nature if we have access to all relevant variables. If we were to know someones genetic make-up, the environment in which they are raised, the family they are raised by, etc., we can make valid conjectures about their behavior. For instance, if we know that a child has a very active limbic system (which is associated with emotion and aggression), is raised in a very poor and stressful environment and does not receive much affection from the parents, it is valid to project that such a child will behave violently and criminally in its adolescent and adult life. In fact, such†¦show more content†¦With all other behavior, she could not fathom how in any circumstance, we could only carry out but one event given the relevant variables of the situation. I proposed that perhaps it does not hold so strictly that under given circumstances we could only carr y out but one action. Maybe our genetics and environment only bind us to a certain number of possibilities of actions that we can carry out. For example, our parents raise us in a certain environment and therefore we are exposed to a population of people from which we can choose our friends. From these friends, we would be exposed to, say, a certain style of music. Therefore, if we were to walk into a music shop, knowing our taste and circle of friends, one can predict what CD we would buy. It would not be probable, for example, for someone raised in the city and exposed to rap to stroll into a store and pick up the latest polka hits. His choices, subconsciously, would be limited only to a certain number of records and therefore, the action of choosing is also limited. Nelly argued that this would imply limited free will and that there cannot be such a thing. She argued that I am taking the side of compatibalism which states that scientific determinism is compatible with fre e will and that according to this theory, free choice is one that is not compelled internally or externally.Show MoreRelatedDeterminism Between Free Will And Determinism Essay1383 Words   |  6 PagesDeterminism relates directly to The Fountain in Tommy’s journey as he changes through the guidance of Izzi’s from fearing and fighting death, to acceptance and grace in its inevitability. This journey is central to the film as the lighting -dark to light-, colours -black to white- and shapes –triangles to rectangles to circles- all symbolically represent this movement from fear, denial and blindness to enlightenment, acceptance and grace. It is in the climax of this journey that the conflict betweenRead MoreFree Will And Determinism Vs. 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