Free Will Vs Determinism Research Paper

D.T. Suzuki is a renowned expert on Zen Buddhism. In one of his lectures called attention to the topic of free will by stating that it is influenced by the battle of "God versus Man, Man versus God, God versus Nature, Nature versus God, Man versus Nature, Nature versus Man,"(Suzuki). These six battles constitute an ultimately greater battle: the battle of free will versus determinism. Free will is the ability for human beings to make decisions as to what life he or she would like to lead, to have the freedom to live according to their own means, and choose their own destiny. Determinism is the circumstance of a higher being ordaining a man 's life from the day he is born until the day he dies. Free will in itself is a far-reaching
The foretelling that he shall kill his father and marry his mother frightened him. Oedipus, thus resolved to leave his land and never return, in hopes that the prophecy would not be fulfilled. Oedipus tried to travel as far away from home as possible, during his journey, he crossed paths with a man who increasingly infuriated him with his rudeness. Oedipus killed the man without the knowledge that the man was indeed his birth father Laius. In doing so, Oedipus unknowingly fulfilled half the prophecy. As Oedipus arrived in Thebes, there was still half of the prophecy to fulfill. He continued on to become the champion of the city with his warding off of the Sphinx, and in turn won the hand of his own mother Iokaste in marriage. Together they bore four children and fulfilled Oedipus ' dire fate once again without his knowledge. The Theban Play begins, when a plague ravages the city of Thebes, and Oedipus sets out to find the cause. At length, he discovers that he himself is the cause for he was guilty of both patricide and incest. When that realization manifested, the utter shock and disgust of his horrific situation causes the tormented and disillusioned Oedipus to blind himself of a self- inflicted wound.
According to some scholars, this was the retribution he paid for his crime, while others would argue that Oedipus had no choice in the matter and had simply fulfilled his
His town suffered the punishment for his physical crime, and he himself was the incarnate sufferer for his spiritual crime. Determinism maintains that Oedipus, as a man subject to the will of the gods, whether it be right or wrong, should not have attempted to outwit them, for he could not. But perhaps the premise of free will managed to unearth a tiny, though dramatically enticing, piece of itself to Oedipus. With such a thing as free will, "No matter how straight the gate, or charged with punishments the scroll," (Henley) he was ultimately the "master of his fate, and the captain of his soul" (Henley). That proposition seemed entirely more attractive to Oedipus than what he had been offered, so he took it. He went against the gods for he willed his own end and the means by which to achieve it. His suffering is an example to all men who try to do things beyond their own means, for he is doomed to fail in the process and will consequently suffer some type of repercussion. A parallel situation would be an attempt to escape from prison. The situation at hand is this: if the escape is successful, a life of freedom awaits, but if it is a failure, additional punishment shall be added to the current one. The question is whether or not a life of freedom is worth the risk, and most men answer as "no." Oedipus, unlike most people, answered "yes", and because he did his escape