D Holbach Free Will Analysis

Essay 3 – Free Will

Majority of philosopher have debated the existence of free well, or ability to choose freely and control their actions. Ultimately, free will determines the level of responsibility we claim for our actions. Obviously, if outside forces determine our choices, we cannot be held responsible for our actions. However, if our choices are made with total freedom than certainly we must claim responsibility for our choices and actions. There are some objections to the idea of free will presented by philosophers such as Holbach; however, D' Holbach was a French-German author, philosopher, presented in his work, the system of Nature, purely naturalistic account of the world we live in, seeking to explain everything
Human behavior, according to Blatchford, is compelled by heredity and environment. Every aspect of human behavior is affected by these two factors. D’Holbach describes a deterministic system that entails a cause and effect relationship. There is a “universal nature” (Text ) that determines how an individual acts- that individual has no influence in the cause or effect of his/her action. Furthermore, the mind creates the idea of will lends itself to perpetuate a thought that one can shift the laws of nature by following a different impulse than the original. In an example of this, In “I Am Determined “D’ Holbach says “There is, in point of fact, no difference between the man that is cast out of the window by another, and the man who throws himself out of it, except that the impulse in the first instance comes immediately from without whilst that which determines the fall in the second case, springs from within his own peculiar machine, having its more remote cause also exterior…” (p. 99) As Holbach stated, there is in actuality no difference between
Sartre believed that humans are responsible for our actions and they are not powerless over their actions and decisions, so they would be a difference between the man who jumped of window by his own choice, and the one who was thrown by someone else ‘s decision. On the other hand, Stace defines that if an action is directly caused by a person’ s thoughts, wishes, emotions, and desires then it is free , and acts which are caused by outside forces, it is not free. He would use the example of Gandhi who fasted on his free will and the man who was in a desert and have no food to eat. The same goes with the statement provided by Holbach. The first man who cast out of the window by another man didn’t desire to end his life or go out of the window so it is not free will; however, the man who jumped out of the window by himself had desire and wishes to do this action, so it is a free will. Although these ideas may be true and proven true by Holbach, it is not true that man would not be responsible for the consequences caused by his action. Though he may not be responsible for certain situations in which he may not be involved, he is responsible for his choice on how he chooses to act in the situation whether they directly or indirectly affect the outcome of such situation, be it a wanted or unwanted outcome. Therefore