Chisholm's Argument Analysis

Chisholm provides an argument which claims that humans are capable of free will, however, furthermore states that determinism does not go hand in hand with free will. Determinism can be further understood by the belief that it is not free will that causes an event, but rather an external force. This subsequently applies to human actions. Not having free will or freedom of choice implies that humans cannot be held responsible for their actions as they were not able to do anything differently. Chisholm, however, disagrees with this stand point. Chisholm argues that; if a person has free will then they would have the option to choose to act differently in a certain situation and if a person does choose to act differently than originally planned it is an example of the portrayal of free will. Thus, the underlying question in
Yet, Chisholm deducts that it is a person or group of people whom are held responsible for the occurrence of an event and Chisholm states that this is often perceived incorrectly due to the lack of understanding in respect of causation (ibid.). Ultimately leading Chisholm to believe that it is possible for people to be the cause of events. Chisholm’s argument can be critiqued in the sense that; if an external factor influences a person’s decision then that person did not as a matter of fact have a decision and therefore did not exercise free will. However, it can be stated that all situations depend on the existing circumstances and as a result people or the agent making the decision are required to take other factors into account, such as; previous experiences which may influence a person’s verdict due to their knowledge on the topic at hand. This does not mean that the person does not have the free will to choose a different option but that they choose to make a certain decision based on their own