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free will versus predestination
- By Tina Griffith
- Published 05/30/2008
- Philosophy
- Unrated
Tina Griffith
I love the summer, Halloween, animals, chocolate and music. That is the basis of knowing me. I also like to write and travel a little.
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No one knows the true answer to the infamous question I discussed in philosophy class years ago. Actually, everyone has their own answer and to some each individual's answer is correct for them so therefore is correct. But are there ways to use this simple chicken or the egg question to avoid taking personal responsibility for something?
That is not to say that predestination does not exist. Sure, but there needs to be a way to work in harmony with free will. Would people really be happy if they knew that everything they did in their life was not their own choice but someone else's? When you work extremely hard to study for a test would you have bothered if you knew you would receive an A even if you didn't because you were meant to?
Complete predestination would leave the world lazy. It is human Nature to not do what you don't have to.
But would a world with total free will be better? Each and every one
could make all of their own choices. Should everyone make all of their own choices? Isn't that why parents have jurisdiction over their children until they reach 18 or so. Can a man who won the lottery on a ticket that a computer picked numbers for take complete responsibility for winning? Can the same man claim that it was predestination that made him crash his car not the choice to drink and drive? Now that is the question. Can you use that defense in court? Well you could use anything actually there is a law that protects freedom of speech. But is it irresponsible to think that something other than you caused such a bad thing to happen if you made the choices that led to that?
There is an intertwining of possibilities for both arguments. If you take sides you can probably defend your choice like it were a high school debate match, but then really if you look at it with an unbiased eye both could be true at the same time. Now how does that work?
I don't believe in having the wrong answer, because I don't believe there is one. If we knew for sure how the universe worked maybe it wouldn't work so well.
That is not to say that predestination does not exist. Sure, but there needs to be a way to work in harmony with free will. Would people really be happy if they knew that everything they did in their life was not their own choice but someone else's? When you work extremely hard to study for a test would you have bothered if you knew you would receive an A even if you didn't because you were meant to?
Complete predestination would leave the world lazy. It is human Nature to not do what you don't have to.
But would a world with total free will be better? Each and every one
There is an intertwining of possibilities for both arguments. If you take sides you can probably defend your choice like it were a high school debate match, but then really if you look at it with an unbiased eye both could be true at the same time. Now how does that work?
I don't believe in having the wrong answer, because I don't believe there is one. If we knew for sure how the universe worked maybe it wouldn't work so well.