Human beings understand that their free will is not threatened by the future of the stars. Faith is a choice that need not be influenced by the fact that the sun will one day burn away. Nor is faith influenced by the ineffability of divine foreknowledge. Human beings have but a partial understanding of the divine and indeed of the universe. It is therefore not a matter of whether God has "chosen" a particular individual to be saved, but whether that individual chooses for him- or herself to be saved. This is done on the basis of the influencing factors mentioned above.
In conclusion, when the scale of divine foreknowledge is reduced to human scale, this creates a paradox that cannot be solved. Instead, divine foreknowledge should be seen for what it is - a force on a universal scale that can only be understood partially by the human mind.…...
mlaBibliography
Murray, Christine. St. Augustine and Free Will. Catholic Online, 27 Aug, 2004. http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1282
Rogers, Katherin a. Anselm on Grace and Free Will. The Saint Anselm Journal 2.2, Spring 2005. http://www.anselm.edu/library/SAJ/pdf/22Rogers.pdf
Swartz, Norman. Notes on Free Will and Determinism. Oct 7, 2004. http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/swartz/freewill1.htm
Evaluating how a free market economy views human agency and free will, it is then seen that human beings in this kind of set-up are interpreted as rational human beings with the same capacities, abilities, and resources for competition in an invisible hand economy. ather than the government, the majority of decisions on economic activities and transactions are then assumed by individual key players in the market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market).
Comparison of Marxism and Free Market Capitalism and their views on Free Will or Human Agency
The Marxist conception of free will and human agency initially looks at human beings as alienated people because of capitalism. Their existence, identities, and consequent opportunities are then dependent on the social classes they are in. From this point, it can be said that Marx does not ascribe too much on the role of human beings to act out of their own accord. Yet in the end,…...
mlaReferences List
Alienation" 2006. [online] http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/DSS/Marx/MARXW3.htmL
Free Market" 2006. [online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
Human Agency." 2006. [online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_agency
Marx's Theory of Social Class and Class Structure." 1999. [online] http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/s28f99.htm
Free Will vs. Fate
In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the main characters Laios and Oedipus do all that they can to avoid a prophecy that was told to them by an Oracle. King Laios was told that his own son would end up murdering him, and so upon the birth of the King Laios and Lady Iscostes' son, they bound his two feet together and gave him to a servant who was meant to then kill the baby so that the prophecy would not become reality. Instead of killing the baby, the servant gives him to a Shepard man who takes him from Thebes where he was born, to Corinth, where he was given to the King and Queen of that city. When Oedipus gets older, he hears from a drunk man that he is not the son of the King and Queen of Corinth, and upon seeking that truth,…...
3) Freud thinks that there are important mental events which effect how a person acts. His theory shows pieces of both free will and Determinism. He thinks actions are caused by subliminal elements in the psyche. Those events, because we don't realize they are affecting behavior, predetermine our reactions to events. But on the other hand, he thinks that a person can combat these latent-determining factors through therapy, he gives control back to the person.
Skinner's Contingency Management theory seems to rely completely in the realm of free will. His idea of positive reinforcement relies on environment to change behavior. A person enjoys or dislikes the reaction that comes from their actions. They repeat the action that causes them to get the enjoyable effect. The person makes a choice to act in a way that gives them a desired result.
Carol Rogers' belief in a drive toward self-actualization is mostly free will…...
Free will vs. Determinism
To define his evolving notions of Original Sin in Christian theology, Augustine solidified in the doctrine Christianity a notion of the radical freedom of the human will -- what made human beings wonderfully distinct from animals, he argued, was the human ability to freely choose good or evil in action. Augustine's approach to the "free choice of the will" assumed that "humans had a will" and a good will was "a will by which we seek to live a good and upright life and to attain unto perfect wisdom" which, of course, assumes that humans have the ability to choose the opposite. Jean Paul Sartre also argued for a radical freedom of the will, but argued that this freedom was often awful, rather than awe inspiring, good or bad. Sartre's notion of the will's freedom was derived from atheism, of human being's aloneness in the world. Humans…...
mlaWorks Cited
Freud, Sigmund. "Freud: The Wish Fulfillment of Oedipus." From the Interpretation of Dreams. Elpenor Greek World. 10 Dec 2004. http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greeks-us/freud-oedipus.asp
Marx, Karl. "Estranged Labor." From "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844." 10 Dec 2004 athttp://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm
Murray, Christine. "Augustine and Free Will." Catholic online. August 27, 2004. 10 Dec 2004
On the other hand, those who subscribe to the theory of free will believe that life's events are a direct result of the person's own self-generated actions. It is the philosophical idea that a person is able to choose from a variety of real alternatives, and depending on which alternative is chosen, it is this choice that ultimately determines the outcome ("Free Will"). In Christian theology, free will involves the belief that it is through God's gift to humankind that they have the ability and desire to make choices, commitments, etc., and are not forced to take predetermined actions due to external causes.
The self-determination of a rational being is free will (Passantino & Passantino).
Free will, or autonomy, theorists believe that every event in existence is exclusive of all others, and therefore allows for unlimited possibilities of choice. Free will is found throughout all cultures and is also a founding belief…...
mlaReferences
Compatibilism." Wikipedia.org. 19 July 2004. Wikipedia.org. September 13, 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism .
Davies, Paul. "Undermining Free Will." Foreign Policy (144) Sept 2004: 36-38. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ. October 30, 2004 http://www.epnet.com .
Fatalism." Wikipedia.org. 28 July 2004. Wikipedia.org. September 13, 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatalism .
Passantino, B. & Passantino, G. Answers.org. 1998. Answers.org. September 13, 2004 http://www.answers.org/theology/freeglossary.html.
Q3: Define free will and determinism. Discuss how free will and determinism are relevant to the following theories:
Free will may be defined as the ability to make decisions independent of social, biological, and cognitive shaping mechanisms; determinism is the idea one is subject to such forces at cannot fundamentally alter one's future trajectory in a meaningful manner.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory
Freud took a highly deterministic view of how the human psyche was constructed. He viewed such complexes as the Oedipus Complex and the Electra Complex as part of universal human development patterns. A girl would inevitably suffer penis envy, even if she was raised by a feminist mother and father in a socially empowering environment. She could not choose to ignore negative internal forces that were hard-wired into her psyche. Similarly, boys all over the world were determined to wish to murder their father and marry their mother. The subconscious and conscious…...
This makes people superstitious, but, in the same time, it makes them combine fate with free will as they act out of their own free will with the intention to alter fate.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" describes how superstitious people can contribute to altering fate. Superstitious people are disadvantaged because of their beliefs and because of their absurd theories. Also, the fact that they are superstitious prevents them from acting logically and morally.
Jackson's characters willingly chose to sacrifice a member of their community in order for their crops to grow. All of the village's members present at the reunion agree that fate is the only one that decides who is going to die. Tessie also agrees and she accepts the ritual as being vital for the well-being of the village.
However, after her family is chosen to have one of its members murdered with stones, she has a sudden change of…...
mlaWorks Cited
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. 1948
Jensen, Henning. Morality and Luck. Cambridge University Pres: 1984.
Smith, Jennifer. Superstition is Ormerod's way. Lexington Herald-Leader (02 Dec. 2006)
How does this shed light on the question, "Are we free to do what we want with our lives?" It doesn't shed light on it, so much as reveal that the question was asked from the darkness. Our "free will" is an illusion, but we do act, and our actions are our own. They have manifold causes, but not one of them could possibly be "outside of nature" or outside "the whole," and none of them could be attributable solely to my freedom. ather, the constraints I mentioned at the outset, and even the wants I mentioned there, are pieces of the whole, and "there is nothing which could judge, measure, compare, condemn our Being, for that would mean judging, measuring, comparing, condemning the whole...But there is nothing apart from the whole!" The best I can do to do what I want with my life is to want my life…...
mlaREFERENCES
1. Clark, Maudemarie. "Nietzsche, Friedrich," in E. Craig (Ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge, 1998.
2. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Twilight of the Idols and the Anti-Christ, translated by R.J. Hollingdale. New York: Penguin Books, 1990.
3. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Twilight of the Idols, translated by Duncan Large. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
4. Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morality, translated by Carol Diethe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
(Freedom and Determinism: A Framework) Let us figure out what as said by Kant the problem of freedom and determinism contains, as it seems to hypothetical cause. Kant pointed out that we fetch a representative in her act to start a wholly fresh string of outcomes, and that for philosophers to state that it would have been adequate for ethical accountability if she had simply acted willingly is only being fussy, in fact a miserable ploy. (Free Will and Determinism: Compatibilism, Incompatabilism and the Smart Aleck)
Actually, Kant likes to obtain a total knowledge of observed experiences. This total knowledge needs on the one hand causality according to laws of nature. but, this causality results in an endless number of causes and effects, which is something that is in opposition with a total knowledge of observed experiences. Therefore, freedoms as reason that are not happened on account of them come…...
mlaReferences
Campbell, Joseph Keim; O'Rourke, Michael; Shier, David. "Freedom and Determinism: A Framework." Retrieved from www.class.uidaho.edu/morourke/research/intro.pdf. Accessed on 5 December, 2004
Freedom and Determinism" April 27-29, 2001. University of Idaho: Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference. Retrieved at Accessed on 5 December, 2004http://www.class.uidaho.edu/inpc/4th-2001/General-Info.htm .
Honderich, Ted. "Free Will and Determinism: Compatibilism, Incompatabilism and the Smart Aleck." Retrieved at Accessed on 5 December, 2004http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/ted6.htm .
Honderich, Ted. "The Determinism and Freedom Philosophy Website." Retrieved at Accessed on 5 December, 2004http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwIntroIndex.htm .
However, a determinist theorist could argue that given the wage inequity between the genders, women who turn to prostitution may do so due to the lack of professions that pay good wages for female employees.
Drug use is another issue that generates much debate. Rational choice theorists often follow the "Just say no" route, and that drug addicts should be penalized for violating the law. Determinists, on the other hand, point out that laws vary by society, and that the laws prohibiting marijuana use only reflect the values of a select elite.
Rational choice theorists may also condemn people who commit euthanasia, whether or not the act was committed with a patient's consent. However, determinists would look more into the situation. Was the patient terminally ill and in pain? Was there consent? These questions will help a determinist in evaluating whether or not a crime has occurred....
The novel vividly illustrates this event, stated as follows:
The scorching blade slashed at my eyelashes and stabbed at my stinging eyes. That's when everything began to reel. The sea carried up a thick, fiery breath. It seemed to me as if the sky split open from one end to the other to rain down fire. My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; and there, in that noise, sharp and deafening at the same time, is where I tall started. I shook off the sweat and sun. I knew that I had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where I'd been happy. Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times…...
mlaBibliography
Bree, B. (Ed.). (1972). Camus. NJ: Rutgers UP.
Booker, (1993). Literature and domination: sex, knowledge, and power in modern fiction. Gainsville: Florida UP.
Camus, a. (1988). The Stranger. NY: Alfred a. Knopf, Inc.
Dupee, F.W. (1957). In Nabokov: a critical heritage. N. Page (Ed.). NY: Routledge.
Goblins in this case can be viewed as devil's agents who force people to commit sins. Food items are presented as sins that man can get involved in if he doesn't have a strong will power. They are described in attractive terms (Bloom-down-cheek'd peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,/Wild free-born cranberries (5-14)), just like sins and vices that initially appear very tempting but are eventually harmful to one's soul. In the very same way, these fruits look attractive and are tasty but gradually rob the body of its vigor and beauty.
Laura is a risk-taker and hence fell victim to a clever and tempting ploy. Lizzie is timid and conforms to the norms and thus could save herself and later her sister. This is a rather puritanical argument but that's how the author presents it. But there is another thing which is far more important than their risk-taking capabilities. It is the ability of Lizzie…...
mlaReferences
Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1969.
Campbell, Elizabeth. "Of Mothers and Merchants: Female Economics in Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market.'" Victorian Studies: A Journal of the Humanities, Arts and Sciences 33 (1990): 393-410.
Ekstrom 121)
The greatest strength of the concept of free will is that it allows evil deeds to be explained as poor conceptions of a weak human mind. The individual abilty to learn and become a greater agent of responsibility seeks a concept of free will to explain how this can be done and with good reason. The individual has no reason to express learning and to grow from human ideas and actions if he or she is resolved to live with a predetermined set of consequences and actions. As man's ability to reason is what is said to seprate us from animals then "free will" becomes and essential aspect of the equation.
hy exactly is it important to so many of us whether or not we can be self-directed, not just politically but also metaphysically? In certain philosophical contexts, such as some discussions of the problem of evil, the high value…...
mlaWorks Cited
Ekstrom, Laura Waddell. Free Will: A Philosophical Study. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000.
Free Will" New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia Online. April 15, 2008, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm .
Kapitan, Tomis. "Chapter 6 a Master Argument for Incompatibilism?." The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. Ed. Robert Kane. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 127-154.
Kane, Robert, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Free ill" Exist and if so, to hat Extent does it Exist?
The concept of "Free ill" has been debated by many philosophers over a period of centuries, not only regarding its very existence but also regarding its elements, the extent to which it may or may not exist and its moral implications. Our assigned readings have merely touched on debates that have raged and will probably continue to rage as long as human beings contemplate the "truths" about being. Though an exhaustive review of differing philosophical treatments of "Free ill" would probably take hundreds of pages, this work will briefly examine several major philosophies of "Free ill" and some of their most notable proponents. In reviewing these sources and differing approaches to "Free ill," we can see that philosophers approach the concept of "Free ill" with differing definitions, examining disparate aspects and resulting in somewhat different implications for Morality.
Analysis
a.…...
mlaWorks Cited
Chisholm, Roderick M. "Human Freedom and the Self." Eds. Perry, John, Michael Bratman and John Martin Fischer. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford, 2010. 392-99. Print.
Descartes, Rene, et al. Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Print.
Kant, Immanuel. "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals." Eds. Perry, John, Michael Bratman and John Martin Fischer. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford, 2010. 504-20. Print.
Libet, Benjamin. "Do We Have Free Will?" Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6 (8-9) (1999): 47-57. Print.
One of the cornerstones of the idea of liberty and freedom, especially when viewed from a religious perspective like Thomas Merton’s, is the idea of free will. Whether human beings truly have free will is a surprisingly divisive philosophical question that, by design, must consider questions like natural versus nurture, motivation, the influence of society on people, and even the nature of good and evil (O’Connor). However, the idea of free will is central to Christianity and also to Merton’s explorations of liberty and freedom in a Christian context.
Using the concept of free will to explore the....
Yes, there are many essay topics in literature that can be debated from opposing viewpoints. Some examples include:
1. The role of fate vs. free will in Shakespeare's plays
2. The moral ambiguity of the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"
3. The portrayal of gender and sexuality in Virginia Woolf's works
4. The effectiveness of satire in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
5. The value of studying classic literature vs. contemporary literature
These topics can lead to interesting and thought-provoking debates, as they allow for different interpretations and perspectives on the themes and messages presented in literary works.
6. The impact of historical context on....
Sure! Here are a few essay topics on Chaucer and Boccaccio:
1. Compare and contrast the storytelling techniques of Chaucer and Boccaccio in "The Canterbury Tales" and "The Decameron."
2. Analyze the portrayal of women in the works of Chaucer and Boccaccio. How do they challenge or reinforce traditional gender roles of their time?
3. Discuss the theme of social satire in the writing of Chaucer and Boccaccio. How do they use humor to critique society?
4. Explore the role of religion in the works of Chaucer and Boccaccio. How do they approach themes of faith, sin, and redemption?
5. Examine the influence of classical....
- The role of gender and masculinity in Macbeth
- The symbolism of blood in Macbeth
- The use of supernatural elements in Macbeth
- The portrayal of power and ambition in Macbeth
- The theme of guilt and conscience in Macbeth
- The significance of sleep and dreams in Macbeth
- The impact of betrayal and deception in Macbeth
- The portrayal of mental illness and madness in Macbeth
- The relationship between fate and free will in Macbeth
- The role of the supernatural witches in Macbeth
One lesser-known but interesting topic to consider exploring in an essay on Macbeth is the theme of equivocation. Equivocation is the....
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