Freewill Is Compatible With Determinism Compatible

This essay will discuss if freewill is compatible with determinism. The concepts surrounding free will and determinism will be examined. The concepts are: incompatibalism, compatibalism, moral responsibility and libertarianism. Each concept has sub categories falling under the titles of hard or soft depending on the views. I will argue that freewill is compatible with determinism as there are certain things that are determined by physical process’s stemming from the formation of the universe resulting in the formation of the “laws of nature.” These laws determine many aspects of life however the agent experiencing the universe has a certain degree of free will when it comes to making decisions. An understanding of the concepts of free will and determinism is required to explore the issue of if they are compatible.

Determinism is the theory that every single event and action is caused by prior events and that agents or events could not have happened any other way. Free will states that we “could of chosen other wise” (Pereboom,). Actions and events being caused by previous circumstances are known as “causal determinism” (Pereboom). As all things are caused by another event, humans cannot be held morally responsible for there actions. I agree that many things are determined but that agents have a small amount of free
Before we take any form of action we must first have the thought to carry or to not carry out a certain action. The thought creates a feeling within what we will call the human soul/spirit (where we feel our feelings) then we act upon that emotion. Moral principals that were conditioned into us from childhood have an effect on our thought process. It depends whether or not we learned about accepted right and wrong such as rape, murder and theft are wrong and that helping others is