Philosophy - Free Will vs. Determinism
Free Will-Determinism
The dialogue between philosophers over the existence of free will versus the inevitability of determinism is a debate that will always exist. The discussion centers around the true freedom of humans to think and act according to their own judgment versus the concept that humans are intrinsically bound by the physical laws of the universe. Before I enter this chicken and the egg debate I need to quantify my terms:
Free will is defined by the great philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas as “vis electiva” or free choice. It is the ability of man to contemplate and judge the effects of the actions he is about to take. “…But man acts from judgment, because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought. But because this judgment, in the case of some particular act, is not from a natural instinct but from some act of comparison in the reason, therefore he acts from free judgment and retains the power of being inclined to various things.” (Aquinas. Suma Theologica)
Determinism is a complex notion but is best described by David Hume as the notion that something cannot come from nothing and that all actions have causes preceding them.
“I conceive that nothing taketh beginning from itself, but from the action of some other immediate agent without itself. And that therefore, when first a man hath an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite nor will, the cause of his will, is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing. So that whereas it is out of controversy, that of voluntary actions the will is the necessary cause, and by this which is said, the will is also caused by other things whereof it disposeth not, it followeth, that voluntary actions have all of them necessary causes, and therefore are necessitated.” (Hume. Liberty and Nessessity.)
Philosophy and world religion alike were born of the same origins. Each of the two ancient disciplines arose from the quest for
The dialogue between philosophers over the existence of free will versus the inevitability of determinism is a debate that will always exist. The discussion centers around the true freedom of humans to think and act according to their own judgment versus the concept that humans are intrinsically bound by the physical laws of the universe. Before I enter this chicken and the egg debate I need to quantify my terms:
Free will is defined by the great philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas as “vis electiva” or free choice. It is the ability of man to contemplate and judge the effects of the actions he is about to take. “…But man acts from judgment, because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought. But because this judgment, in the case of some particular act, is not from a natural instinct but from some act of comparison in the reason, therefore he acts from free judgment and retains the power of being inclined to various things.” (Aquinas. Suma Theologica)
Determinism is a complex notion but is best described by David Hume as the notion that something cannot come from nothing and that all actions have causes preceding them.
“I conceive that nothing taketh beginning from itself, but from the action of some other immediate agent without itself. And that therefore, when first a man hath an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite nor will, the cause of his will, is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing. So that whereas it is out of controversy, that of voluntary actions the will is the necessary cause, and by this which is said, the will is also caused by other things whereof it disposeth not, it followeth, that voluntary actions have all of them necessary causes, and therefore are necessitated.” (Hume. Liberty and Nessessity.)
Philosophy and world religion alike were born of the same origins. Each of the two ancient disciplines arose from the quest for
Cited: * Aquinas, St. Thomas. Sancti Thomae Aquinatis ...: Suma Theologica ... Parisiis: Apud Sebastianum Et Gabrielem Cramoisy, 1640. Print. * Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature: in Two Volumes. London: Dent, 1934. Print. * Hume, David. Liberty and Necessity: an Argument against Free-will and in Favor of Moral Causation. London: Progressive Pub. 1890. Print.