Free Will Research Paper

From the beginning of time people have pondered existence and what it means to truly “Be’, indeed the most important questions that one can ask are those of a metaphysical nature. The deeper questions that seek to explain the reason we’re here in the first place, if for any reason at all. It’s easy to get lost in the many differing theories proposed from Determinism to Rationalism to Solipsism to Absurdism the possible theories one can ascribe as correct are endless. But the ones that try to answer those big questions in the most general of terms are the ones that seem to hold the most verisimilitude. Existentialism, Nihilism, and Objectivism are the most general, and although quite different they are also quite similar. But existentialism seems to be the one which offers the most hope for optimism or any concern for altruism and personal growth.

Both choice theory and existentialism closely mirror ideas taught in Protestant Christianity: people are free to make choices about their behavior and lifestyle, and all choices have an outcome. That outcome can be positive (salvation), or negative (damnation). If one believes the rules as explained in the Bible, the outcome of one’s life rests in their choices.

Free will is using individuality to speak your mind and do what you want on your terms. This directly connects to The Constitution which states that we the people have the freedom to speak what you want and be free to believe what you want to believe. Amendment nine states that everyone will have individual freedom. The founders of America

As humans, free will is something we commonly assume we have. When evaluating what free will is, we become less certain. David Hume calls it “the most contentious question of metaphysics.” In simplistic terms, free will is having the ability to determine your own plan of action. There is a relationship between free will and freedom of action and causal determinism that must be evaluated to have a complete understanding of free will. There are compatibilist views that believe in free will and incompatibilist views that imply there is no free will. Free will is also related to both theological determinism and logical determinism.

Existentialism is a philosophy for the twentieth century that revolves around being alive and the rationale of why humans find themselves to

Existentialism is often defined as a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes a few main points, such as the freedom to choose and how the choices you make should be made without the assistance of another person or standard. From the existentialist point of view, you must accept the risk and responsibility of your choices and follow the act and result to wherever it takes the individual. Someone that is put in a certain situation understands it far more than someone looking in on that same situation; one commonly used situation that appears often in existentialist works is

Existentialism is the notion that every individual must choose their own meaning in life built on individual experience rather than look for a cosmic absolute that holds the truth. To define

William Rowe defines gratuitous evil as an instance of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse.(Rowe 335) In a world with so much evil it raises the questions If God is all powerful, all knowing and all good, how can he allow bad things to happen to good people? Can God even exist in a world with so such gratuitous evil? These are questions that has afflicted humanity for a very long time and has been the question to engross theologians for centuries. The existence of evil has been the most influential and powerful reason to disprove the existence of God. It is believed among many theist that God is the creator and caretaker

When I reflect back on my own life, I have experienced every one of those existential theories, but I made a choice to take action about every situation that happened to me, by facing life with openness and willingness to engage with life rather than a tendency to withdraw from my responsibility. I thought about how I face life now with openness and willingness because of the question I ask myself is, what is the meaning of my life, who am I , what is my purpose, and is there a God.

  Existentialism is a philosophy dealing with man's aloneness in the universe. Either there is no God or else God stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his own choices. From this basic idea of man being alone in an uncertain and purposeless world, many related ideas have developed. One great worry of existentialist writers is that life is becoming too complicated and too impersonal. People become more and more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However, these provide the only "meaning" that life could possibly have. One author prominently known for his work with existential ideas was Franz

Existentialist believe we are free, with no predestine course thru life; we make are way through life as we see fit.”…individuals create their own nature through their free choices and actions” (p.74). Let me start by saying that I disagree mostly with this believe. I do believe that humans have free will. But I also believe that our lives are predestined.

One of the reasons the movement is so difficult to define is because many of these thinkers have differing views on what the human condition is, which is at the center of the study of existentialism. Something that is found to be common between many existentialist, though, is their consistent and utter rejection to any and all systems, theories and organizational constructs that attempt to answer the question of the human condition, and give value to our existence in a comprehensive approach- whether they are based in religion, science or philosophy.

Existentialism is a philosophical theory based on individuals creating their own way of life and determining their own fate within acts of free will. The existentialism theory started as a movement by Kierkegaard and Nietzche after World War II and was based on attitude. The attitude was developed as a specific view of the world unable to be acceped.

Perhaps the most telling symptom of existentialist philosophers is their ever-divergent theories on the fundamental characteristics of human life and their steadfast refusal to assign an explicit meaning or reason to our existence at all. Contrary to criticism which therefore labels the movement cynically nihilistic, existentialism justifies life with reasoning similar to that of Zen Buddhism. Specifically, the notions of hopelessness and absurdity can be gleaned from Buddhism in a manner helpful to the understanding of existentialist viewpoints on the same.

The world we live in is an odd one; some cope with its absurdities through intensive faith, others through utter disregard of all its meaning. Existentialism, however, leads us down a peculiar path that blurs these concepts into one unique belief system. While we might be faced with situations beyond our complete control, we do have the power to control how we handle said situations and whether or not we choose to cultivate significance from them. The search for significance is very primitive and so are the answers that have accompanied it throughout human history. Obviously, life doesn’t have a clearly stated purpose to it; it is up to each individual to create their own relative purpose and find their own happiness in a life of suffering. This is exactly what Existentialism proposes, that it is not possible to know the truth, so it is up to the individual to create his or her own, and then create their own purpose. Merriam-Webster defines the philosophy theory of Existentialism as a “…philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad.” But Existentialism is not a concept that can simply be defined in one fell swoop. Throughout our studies of philosophy, I found there to be two main concepts that act as the foundation for the basic