Dilemma Of Free Will

There are so many different choices that we make in our daily life. Are these choices influenced by the “culture, environment or even our genes” or is it just our free will that lead us to certain choices? These are a few questions that are studied under philosophy. The concepts of free will and determinism often contradict each other. The concept of free will promotes the idea that we make choices “independently and voluntarily” and these personal choices are not “determined by physical or divine forces”. It also supports the fact that the person is “responsible for their own free will choices”. However, the idea of determinism emphasizes on events being completely decided or “determined by already existing causes”. It believes there is no event that can be decided by free will, it is always the existing causes that lead human beings to those choices. The problem of free will, also known as “dilemma of determinism”, represents the problem that if all the events or the choices are determined by the already existing causes then how can we consider the actions of human beings as free, thus raising the question that if we believe that determinism is true, then is free will compatible or incompatible with the idea of determinism?

The problem of free will raises many questions in context with compatibility between the free will and determinism. When it comes down to analyzing this issue philosophers deal with two important concepts of “compatibilism and incompatibilism”. Compatibilism believes that both the ideas of free will and determinism are “mutually compatible” and “ both can be believed without having any logical inconsistency”. On the other hand, the beliefs of the incompatibilists are completely opposite. The incompatibilist believes in free will and determinism cannot be true together. Incompatibilism supports the fact that if we say that the events are determined then there is no such thing as free will associated with choices. Therefore, the basic principle behind the problem of free will is that it is hard to fit the notion of free choices into equation with the concept that everything or “every event is metaphysically determined.” There is one more important concept related to the problem of free will known as “Libertarianism”. Libertarianism is also the incompatibility view which argues that “if agents have free will then the determinism is false”. So, every libertarianism will support the idea that “free will requires Indeterminism”.

There are many examples that can be used to analyze the concept of problem of free will. “The consciousness of our body is controlled by the various reactions going on in our body and the brain. We are able to think and act to certain situations because of various chemical reactions. In such a case, is there really a free will involved. It seems more like chemical reactions are determining our responses.” Also, there is another factor that even if the “choices or the events are caused by somebody’s own desires or their personality, still ,the personality and desires are often affected by the person’s environment, culture, or the inherent qualities and many other outside factors. Therefore, all these arguments show that there is incompatibility between free will and determinism”.

I personally think that the problem of free will which states that free will and determinism don’t support each other is somewhat right. Looking at all these examples show that if the event is predetermined then there is no free will associated with it.