Essay About Freedom Baron Dholbach And William James

Compatibalism
Essay title: Compatibalism
The question whether humans are capable of making there own choices
has been on debate for as long as men have philosophized. People have
different beliefs when it comes to freedom, the most common supported
views are: determinism, indeterminism, and finally compatibalilsm. I am a
soft- determinist, all the choices that we make arent pre-determined nor
are we “completely free”. I agree and disagree with two philosophers that
have opposing views on freedom Baron DHolbach and William James.
DHolbach was a determinist that believed that human beings had no
freedom. William James was indeterminist that believed freedom existed.
Both William and DHolbach have views that a soft determinist can agree
with.
There was a time in my life that, where I thought that I was the
creator of my own destiny. Now I am not sure. 90 percent of all the choices
I make, depend on value judgments that I have created or that has been
thought to me throughout my life. This is a deterministic view that I defend
and that Baron DHolbach might agree with. DHolbach believed that we are
not free because we make our choices based upon our environment. Soft
determinists agree with the deterministic view that human behavior is
subject to casual laws. (Chaffe 163). One thing about casual laws, that a
compatibalist may disagree with is when a human is making a choice out of
natural desire, with out compulsion. In the following lines DHolbach blames
human actions to there environment, “The religion he has adopted, his govt,
his education, the examples set before him, irresistibly drive him to evil”
(qtd in Chaffe 169). I believe that sometimes our environment may
encourage us to act a certain way. Soft-determinist believe that crimes are
a natural human desire, an internal motivation, which make some actions free
(Chaffe 163).
Some philosophers believed that we are the creators of our own
destiny, and that we are completely free. William James was an
Indeterminist that believed determinism lead to pessimism, that did not
explain human lived experience (Chaffe 176). James thought that
indeterminism was a more rational belief about human freedom. He also
believed that humans had some degree of freedom in the choices they make
(Chaffe 177). As a compatibalist, I agree with James that some choices that
we make are free, but I dont believe that we have complete freedom over
our lives. I wish that I could be free and have no worries but, in reality I
have many responsibilities and obligations which restricts me from being
“completely free”.
Soft-determinism is the belief that both determinism and
indeterminism are both compatible. “People are free if they are acting on
their unimpeded