Free Will vs Determinism Questions

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Free Will vs. Determinism Questions

  1. Why is it important to believe in free will
  1. Free will is extremely important to humanity, since it accounts for many of the justifications of human actions. It is generally thought that people would only be able to participate in certain activities if they had their own personal free will, and that if free will doesn’t exist, then there would be no point in participating in activities or doing something different. When a person believes in free will, they believe that they are taking their lives into their own hands, and that they have the ability to make changes, and that their life can turn out any way they desire it to. If a person were to doubt their ability to have free will and make decisions for themselves and rather believe in determinism, in which all aspects of a person’s life could simply be explained and rationalized as a response to a certain bodily function, then that person would believe that there was no way to control what their life turns out to be. In this case, a person would simply succumb to what determinism entails, and would make no effort to change things about themselves. It is important for humanity to believe in free will because that is the only way that people can make a difference and decide for themselves how they want to live their lives.
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  1. How does causation affect the debate between free will and determinism?
  1. When one considers the debate between free will and determinism, causation makes a big impact. Causal determinism is the idea that every event is necessitated by prior events and conditions working together with the laws of nature to determine the next event. This brings in a new perspective to free will vs. determinism because it provides a sort of middle ground, where one can say that the determination of one’s future does in fact rely on their individual past, and is not simply objectively the same for ...

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