The Reality Of Choice Essay -- essays research papers

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 will determines our destiny. 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 they were both brought up properly and lived in the same environment . One of them chose to conform with her f... ...e always stemming from his soul . In addition , to be fair we should reward good behavior and punish bad behavior . To sum up , man possesses free will in every aspect of his life . Through the past decades many philosophers emerged each having his own sets of ideas regarding the concept of free will . Some argue that nature was the most influential factor , others stated that a person's environment and experiences are the major factor that affects people's choices . Some thought that free will exists but it is affected by both heredity and environment . Another group of philosophers claimed that free will exists and in not affected by any forces because every free act stems from a person's conscience and every person is totally responsible for his actions . God gave us the ability to choose between right or wrong and good or bad . It is up to us whether to choose this way or the other . Ofcourse , God knows our choices in advance yet , God did not make our choices we made them ourselves . I believe in God's justice and fairness . Our choice determines our fate ; whether we should go to heaven and enjoy it's delights or hell and experience the torture we deserve .