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Essay On Soft Determinism

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In order to compare and contrast determinism/incompatibilism and soft determinism/compatibilism, one should probably define them first. Determinism can be defined as whatever happens necessarily, and that every event has a cause. Determinism should be distinguished from fatalism though. Fatalism, is the belief that whatever happens, is a result of fate. Determinism allows for many causes, but it doesn’t permit the single possibility that something happens as a result of no cause, (Daniel). Incompatibilism is a philosophical thesis about how relevant determinism actually is to free will. It questions the truth of determinism rules out the existence of free will. An incompatibilist would believe that if determinism turned out to be true, then it must be true that we don’t have free will, and that we never had it to begin with. Soft Determinism is a view that holds that determinism and free will coexist in a person. This is also called Self-Determinism, which is when we are the causes of our actions, and that our actions …show more content…

Neither soft nor hard determinism is flawless or perfect, but I believe hard determinism is the better option of the two. Those who critic soft determinism often focus on their definition of free will. Hard determinists may agree that the soft determinists are affiliated with determinism somehow, by showing something. They just don’t identify what either is, or may be. Incompatibilists are very adamant that what soft determinists are not affiliated with is free will. Hard determinists sometimes accept “the freedom to act” as something soft determinists have, but in their eyes, it is not sufficient. They demand more from compatibilist definition of free will, saying that free will describes something genuine and absolute. Hard determinists believe that free will needs alternate possibilities for actions and beliefs, instead of just having counterfactual options and

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“Determinism is the philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs, including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary consequence of antecedent states of affairs”(Information Philosopher, 2015). It refers to the claim that, at any moment or place in time, there is only one possible future for the whole universe. However, the concept of determinism often comes into question when looking into whether human beings possess free will. Free Will can be defined as “the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion” (Defence of Reason, 2014). The very definition of the terms determinism and free will appear to be conflicting however, many philosophical thinkers

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Consequentialism is based more around the consequence and final result of the actions. In our text book, Ethical Reasoning, it states that in consequentialism, “consequences count, not motives or intentions” (Pence, 2011). Non-consequentialism is based around the intention of one’s doing, regardless of the consequences. A particular action may be good for a business but not good for society or ones health. An example of this would be pharmaceutical companies raising the cost for medicine, this cause many patients to suffer or not be able to afford the medication they need.

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Compatibilists think that determinism is actually required to act freely, because if there were no causes and effects for a person to be connected to, their actions would become random, chaotic, and unpredictable and therefore their actions are not truly “free” since such

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It judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based on properties intrinsic to the action, not on its consequence. A non consequentialist won’t think a lot while taking a decision, all they think while taking a decision is that whether this decision will benefit anyone or if it will harm anyone they forget the outcome related to it. He/ She can be selfless while

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