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Freewill, Determinism and Predestination (Free will (Non Religious (Some…
Freewill, Determinism and Predestination
Determinism
Non Religious
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Freud said that our choices and actions are greatly influenced by our parents or other authority figures in our childhood.
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Aquinas said we are born to do good and avoid evil but are some people born to do evil?- Nature vs Nurture. should you be punished as it is their normal thought
Predestination
Christian Views
Why would an omnibolevolent God create the reprobate (destined for hell) and not give everyone a chance of reaching heaven.
An important Christian idea is that humans have freewill to obey or disobey God and choose good or evil. We are then judged by God at the end of our lives. If predestination is true then judgement is pointless
If predestination is true, then we have no responsibility over our actions. Those who do good are guided by God and those who do evil do so because of their sinful nature
Many Christians believe that God wants all people to be saved. It says in the Bible that Christ died for the sins of all people. 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life
John Calvins theory perhaps makes more sense if you put it in context. He was writing during the protestant reformation and one of the criticisms that the reformers had of the Roman catholic church was that it was claiming to have control who could get into heaven
Priests told the people that they could not get into heaven without the sacraments and this meant that excommunication was seen as sentencing a person to hell. The Church also offered 'indulgences' which were prayers which promised a person time off purgatory so they could go more quickly to heaven. Calvin wanted to emphasise that who went to heaven and hell was entirely up to God and not down to what the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy said.
Salvation is a gift from God and isn't based on how you act. You are chosen before you are born and are known as the elect but only some receive this gift.
if our actions are already determined before we are born, do we have free will
Free will
Non Religious
Some argue that we are completely free to make our own decisions in life. they say this is important as we need to gain responsibility for our actions- known as Libertarianism.
There is plenty evidence- people who grew up in different environments have different standards and different view on what is 'normal' to them.
Some say the we should try to ignore our decisions in the past as we shouldn't let them control us. our personality also hinders our decision making.
Sartre: "Man is condemned to be free"- John Paul Sartre. he believes that we have no choice except to choose.- This is the 'human condition' - we exist in a perpetual state of 'what should i do next?'
Religious
Aquinas said that God created human beings with knowledge and evil and reason to guide our decision making.
we have a tendency to choose to sin- Augustine said that the soul is divided and even though it knows what is morally good, it is weakened by the bodies desires.
If God is omniscient then do we still have free will?- God knows what we will choose meaning we don't have a decision, however, we still have the responsibility over that choice because we are free to choose differently. This means that any other outcome is impossible. although it could be like knowing the answers for a test, you are not fully sure what will come up.
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Freewill- the power of acting without the constraint of necessity of fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion
Determinism- the teaching that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regardless of external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions
Pre-determinism- the belief that all events, including human actions, are established or decided in advance