Why Do We Have Free Will And Responsibility Of Themselves

The opposing side to these thinkers believe that humans have total free will and responsibility of themselves. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre believes in existentialism, which is “a philosophy that places supreme value on the freedom of the individual to decide the meaning of his or her life (Stevenson, 2000, p. 185).” Sartre believed that existence came before essence, which mean that individuals are born before they define themselves based off the choices they make. He states that there is no human nature and the “ Man simply is (Stevenson, 2000, p. 188).” The choices one individual makes we chooses for all of the world, which places a great responsibility on each individual to make the correct choice. The essence of Sartre is captured in his quote “ Each person draws his own portrait (Stevenson, 2000).”

Scientistic thinking is including science where it doesn’t belong such as human free will. Dostoevsky states that humans have a precious gift of irrational thinking. He gives an example of irrational thinking by having the underground man state that “2+2=5 (Dostoevsky, 1993).” He portrays the idea that the irrational mathematical statement might save the human race from scientistic thinking. This thinking is what gives us free will and makes us human. If humans simply follow the rules of science, it will take away their humanity. The unpredictability of human nature pushes against the wall of nature and cannot be controlled (Dostoevsky,