The Reality Of Choice
The term philosophy encompasses various meanings and raises many questions for example, it seeks to explore the true meaning of reality, truth, values, justice and beauty. ( Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia, 240 ). There are many terms used by philosophers that are often interpreted differently by other philosophers . Free will is an example as well as an important debatable issue. Some philosophers view free will as non existent , while others argue that it really exists and I strongly agree with the latter . Every philosopher view the world according to his own culture and religion and that's why each of them created different hypothesis and theories . Some argue that the environment plays a major role in shaping a person's personality and therefore is held responsible for all his actions . Others claim that nature in itself has the upper hand with regard to the actions of human beings. While Blatchford stressed that predicting a person's actions proves the non existence of free will . ( 105 ) However, Stace contrverted that there are both free and unfree will acts (112) but I disapprove with all the previous theories because my religious upbringing allows me to believe that free
Stace is one of the philosophers who called upon the real problem of free will . He asserted that free will really exists and that those who deny it's existence , do so because of their misinterpretation of the word . Thus philosophers must first identify and agree upon only one meaning of free will . If a philosopher interprets the word differently , then the conflict here is non existent since the two opinions are based on entirely different matters or concepts . Moreover , Stace's theory implies that free acts are caused by internal factors like desires , motives and the person's psychological state , while unfree acts are often caused by external forces and conditions . (Stace , 112 ). He adds that we should not deny a good person his reward for a job well done just because we previously predicted that he will be able to do it well. ( Stace ,114 )On the contrary , we should encourage him by rewarding him for his good choices and behaviors . Stace is one of the few philosophers that I agree with because behavior is not predictable and whatever a person's actions are , they are always stemming from his soul . In addition , to be fair we should reward good behavior and punish bad behavior . Philosophers like Mill believe that a person's environment is the major shaper of his character . He believes that everything around the person affects his personality in some way or another and thereby directing his actions to reach a certain goal previously identified for him. He believes that a person has little power over forming his own character , since his character is formed by the circumstances surrounding him and since one of these circumstances is his desire to change . This desire is awakened when the person experiences painful consequences associated with his previous character ( Mill , 477: 481) . Mill also states that " A person feels morally free who feels that his habits or his temptations are not his masters , but he theirs ; " ( Mill, 480) .Free will is the ability of deciding freely what to do without fearing anything or being influenced by a habit , a temptation ,an earlier experience or tendency. For example , I know two twins who come from a very religious and conservative family
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1527
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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