There are two sides to the free will debate; one being the determinists which are people who think that your life is predetermined from birth and you have no control to alter your future, while the libertarians think that we have complete free will with our decisions, taking into consideration external causes such as, your environment.
For this debate i take the side of the libertarians because it is more reasonable. To think that your destiny is permanent from birth just seems too surreal. Determinists would argue that your DNA predetermines your future and your life only has a single path to go through while in fact they're wrong; all it does is help mold your future, not give you single path. In life you always have choices, you always have multiple paths to choose. For example, i could have chosen not to study for a recent math exam, but i did and its the fact that i had a choice proves the libertarian side of the debate truthful.
Explanatory breadth- Libertarians win the category of explanatory breadth because there are more theories on their side explaining human behavior more. W. T. Stace proves this by giving examples of human behaviors and how we have and make different choices.
Explanatory depth- Both sides of the debate are at a tie in this category because they equally give each other detail.
Simplicity- Determinists win this category because all they have to say is that everything is predetermined, that's it, while libertarians have to explain things like spontaneous acts and why they exist.
Conservatism- Libertarians win this one because the libertarian view sides with most religions, which most people in the world posses faith in some type of godlike being(s).
For this debate i take the side of the libertarians because it is more reasonable. To think that your destiny is permanent from birth just seems too surreal. Determinists would argue that your DNA predetermines your future and your life only has a single path to go through while in fact they're wrong; all it does is help mold your future, not give you single path. In life you always have choices, you always have multiple paths to choose. For example, i could have chosen not to study for a recent math exam, but i did and its the fact that i had a choice proves the libertarian side of the debate truthful.
Explanatory breadth- Libertarians win the category of explanatory breadth because there are more theories on their side explaining human behavior more. W. T. Stace proves this by giving examples of human behaviors and how we have and make different choices.
Explanatory depth- Both sides of the debate are at a tie in this category because they equally give each other detail.
Simplicity- Determinists win this category because all they have to say is that everything is predetermined, that's it, while libertarians have to explain things like spontaneous acts and why they exist.
Conservatism- Libertarians win this one because the libertarian view sides with most religions, which most people in the world posses faith in some type of godlike being(s).
- Libertarianism and determinism are the most reasonable explanations of free will
- Libertarianism have more Explanatory breadth and Conservatism while determinism has more simplicity and both are equally tied in explanatory depth.
- Therefore, libertarianism is the best explanation of free will.
For explanatory depth, using one of W.T Stace's specific examples of human behavior and explaining how it better supports the argument of libertarianism would strengthen your postion. For explanatory breadth, how do they "give each other detail"?, making them equal.
ReplyDeleteOverall, your blog post was good! But you should have just went a little further in explaining explanatory depth, explanatory breadth, simplicity and conservatism. Especially conservatism, if you just explained why they believe in faith. Great job! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with your standpoint; however, I think you have underestimated determinism making it seem like humans have controlled actions where in reality it is just that they believe all of our actions are caused by earlier psychological or physical events. It's just saying that nothing is spontaneous and new; that all actions are predetermined not people themselves.
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