The Arguments of Predetermination and Free Will

Life is full of choices, everyday we wake up and immediately begin deciding one thing over another. Some of them we do not even think about prior to doing so, such as waking up and taking a shower or not, what we are gonna eat for breakfast even what kind of music will we listen to on the way to wherever we go. The argument stated by Brian Koberlein says that not all of our decisions are as random as they may seem, that it is fate we decide these everyday decisions over another. That there is no free will, in such an argument we are “The laws of classical physics are deterministic. Newton’s mathematical cosmos is a clockwork universe, where each cause has a unique effect and we are governed not by our choices but by the rigid laws of nature.” Nothing is random, it is the way it was always supposed to be it’s just more decisions we have to make to continue on the journey of life.

Koberlein argues that nothing comes randomly and even though it may seem random to us it is only because it is the first time we are experiencing it but when in fact that fate was decided the second we made the decision to so. “Some scientists have argued that quantum randomness isn’t truly random. If I roll a die the outcome seems random, but it isn’t really. All of its bumps and turns are caused by the forces of gravity and the table in a complex dance, but that dance is deterministic. The moment the die leaves my hand, its fate is sealed, even though I don’t know the outcome until it happens. Perhaps quantum objects behave in the same way. They seem to act in random ways, but they are really governed by some deterministic hidden variables.” The argument of predetermination and free will is too broad to choose one idea over the other.

Predetermination is the idea that nothing is random, it may seem random to us but it is not because the fate of what would happen was bound to occur. Predeterminism is that all events are determined in advance. Predeterminism is the philosophy that all events of history, past, present and future, have been already decided or are already known by God, fate, or some other force, including human actions. By following predetermination, you follow and agree with the idea that everything that has happened to you, up until this point and until the end will have already been decided by a greater force or being. Nothing happens randomly, even though it may seem random it is only because it is the first time it is being experienced. As Koberlein stated “Some scientists have argued that quantum randomness isn’t truly random. If I roll a die the outcome seems random, but it isn’t really. All of its bumps and turns are caused by the forces of gravity and the table in a complex dance, but that dance is deterministic. The moment the die leaves my hand, its fate is sealed, even though I don’t know the outcome until it happens. Perhaps quantum objects behave in the same way. They seem to act in random ways, but they are really governed by some deterministic hidden variables.” Even though the dice’s outcome may have seen random it was decided what the outcome would be the second it left our hand even though we did not know the outcome ourselves, predetermination states the same, from the second we are born a great force or god determines our fate.

People believe that there is free will, nothing is predetermined. Every decision we make sets a new course for us that day/changes the course of our journey through life. We are human and we have the ability to make decisions based on our own needs or wants. Free will is living, if we have no free will then are all creatures fates predetermined? Is a Lions fate already set when he is born that at the age of 10 he will be killed by an illegal hunter? Or is it just random the hunter and lion were in the same area at that given point in time. Hilary Bok, a philosopher at the Johns Hopkins University, who said “scientists misunderstand the question of free will when they argue that decisions are governed by the activity of brain cells. Free will, in her opinion, is being capable of stepping back from one’s existing motivations and habits and making a reasoned decision among various alternatives.

The claim that a person chose her action does not conflict with the claim that some neural processes or states caused it.” Free will defines who we are, we are shaped into people we are each day by the decisions we make daily, it also gives is the reason as to why everyone is unique or others are similar. Smilansky, a professor at the University of Haifa, in Israel argues there is no free will. He believes that if society all believed in determinism as a whole it would damage everything. “Determinism not only undermines blame, Smilansky argues; it also undermines praise. Imagine I do risk my life by jumping into enemy territory to perform a daring mission. Afterward, people will say that I had no choice, that my feats were merely, in Smilansky’s phrase, “an unfolding of the given,” and therefore hardly praiseworthy. And just as undermining blame would remove an obstacle to acting wickedly, so undermining praise would remove an incentive to do good. Our heroes would seem less inspiring, he argues, our achievements less noteworthy, and soon we would sink into decadence and despondency.” This says then no one can be blamed or praised for their actions if predetermination is true, because it was supposed to happen.

I chose to break down this argument because the idea that some (not all) decisions are predetermined, the thought process we make behind some decisions over others sometimes there is none at all we already know what we are going to choose before we choose it. However I feel the idea that everything is predetermined when my idea is different, not all decisions are predetermined obviously by putting ourselves in situations. Rather it’s argued that we don’t make choices and our fate is predetermined from the day we are born we just don’t know it. This is where the quote; “Some scientists have argued that quantum randomness isn’t truly random. If I roll a die the outcome seems random, but it isn’t really. All of its bumps and turns are caused by the forces of gravity and the table in a complex dance, but that dance is deterministic.

The moment the die leaves my hand, its fate is sealed, even though I don’t know the outcome until it happens. Perhaps quantum objects behave in the same way. They seem to act in random ways, but they are really governed by some deterministic hidden variables.” Then this means if our fate is truly predetermined from the beginning then in this example, we are the dice and we are being thrown, all the bumps and turns are us living life when actually we may not know our fate, it is already determined, which makes our life experience feel random to us when it really is not. Personally my beliefs fall into some things that are predetermined such as the family life you grow up in if it is loving or not, the idea of predetermination does not have to be as large as the thought of our entire fate being decided.

Predetermination by definition “establish or decided in advance.” So that could be as small as deciding if you will shower or not when you wake up or brushing your teeth after you eat breakfast, it may take no thought that’s just the morning routine. I can relate to this very well from prior experiences, While attending another university out of state my Monday-Thursday schedule was almost the same weekly, Wake up shower, eat, brush teeth, go to classes, library to study, go home eat lunch back to study, go home, chill, eat dinner and sleep. While Friday-Sunday it was all up to the decisions I made through the day to see where I would end up that night. So I believe that you can predetermine what fits to your needs or wants while also living a free will, the schedule for me was just what I wanted to do but I could have easily made the decision to not go back and study after lunch, or even go as far as not even go to classes that day.

The argument of predetermination and free will is too broad to choose one idea over the other.I do understand why people believe in both the idea of free will exists or all is predetermined, however I came to the conclusion the argument is more based around the broad idea of either our fate is predetermined or free will exist, no inbetween which is where I believe there is a flaw in the argument because my idea is a mix of both. Just the choice between the two there is aspects of each argument I agree and disagree with.

Personally I do believe that a free will exists to an extent, we as humans are given the opportunities everyday to be in control of the decisions we make between one option or another. Then again I do believe that fate does have some existence in the state that not all is random some things are just meant to be, and it may not be true for everyone but I see and understand it as somethings are just meant for people to pursue whether it be a career, hobby, or people that come back into your life after a long time of not being apart of your life I can see that as fate bringing you to a passion you are meant to chase or bringing people together that are meant to be together. I feel the argument is too broad in the basics of it where why does it have to be one or the other.