Free will

The human being has the ability to choose what he considers best for him, in the same way, he can choose good and evil with all the direct and indirect implications that this may produce. This capacity of the human being is known as free will . This type of freedom extends to various fields including philosophy , law, and religion among others.

features

Among the main characteristics that can be observed in free will, the following aspects are mentioned:

• It is composed of a series of philosophical doctrines that establish that man has the ability to choose and make his own decisions.
• Actions that are performed through free will are induced by your desires .
• It has a series of religious , legal , scientific , psychological and ethical implications .
• It is closely related to the morality that the performance of an act implies, with responsibility , dignity and ethics .
• It implies the limits of human freedom as well as its autonomy and control.
• It focuses on the concept of the I , in the mind and in the consciousness of the human being.
• It states that through free will, people have responsibility for their actions and for measuring the possible effects of their actions.

Philosophical views on free will

Among the points of view related to philosophy , free will has several points of view, among them the following are mentioned:

• Determinism : in the case of determinism, it ensures that human behavior has a specific cause and that at the same time it has another underlying cause, which makes it a chain of facts. It ensures that man’s behavior is previously determined and that there can be no choices so free will does not exist.

There is also the option of moderate determinism, which does accept the existence of free will and also ensures that it is related to determinism because men have the ability to act according to their wishes and that decisions are made by chance or not. , are irrelevant.

• Liberalism : this current totally denies determinism, assuring that free will does exist, but at the same time they assure that if an action is not determined by a cause, it can become totally fortuitous .
• Indeterminism : ensures that in the world, all things are still to be defined and that for this reason, there is freedom in the human being to be able to change some things.
• Philosophical libertarianism : this thinking completely rejects determinism and ensures that individuals have the possibility of enjoying metaphysical freedom .
• Compatibilism : This philosophical point of view ensures that free will comes from the deterministic universe . It is seen as a type of arising from an inner cause and this includes individual beliefs , desires and thoughts .

Free will according to the Bible

According to the teachings found in the Bible , free will was granted by God so that man would have the ability to act according to what he wanted, regardless of the results that actions may give. In this important Christian book, the freedom of man can help you choose the right path that is God’s , or the wrong one, which would lead you away from this supreme being.

According to Saint Augustine

For Saint Augustine, freedom is received from God to sin through free will, for him, if he did not have the freedom given by God , then man would not be able to sin. At the same time, he thought that punishment from God comes when he acts badly and on the contrary, if man acts well, then he will receive a reward from God. For Augustine, man can do evil from the point of view that implies free will but not from God.

He assured that this freedom had been granted with the objective of being able to live life correctly, avoiding sin above all . Without it, man would not have the ability to act either good or bad, since the will is responsible for these acts.

According to St. Thomas

For this saint, free will undoubtedly existed and the fact that it existed was the reason why there were rewards or punishments . He thought that the human being had the sufficient capacity to be able to choose and deliberately decide on an action. In the knowledge of things was where the character of free will was found and ensured that it was present in all beings who had rational thoughts . For him, the most important thing was the nature and the power of knowledge of the individual to make decisions.

Relationship between free will and freedom

The free will is the ability of the man to make the decision , is an aspect that is entirely dependent on the decisions made considering that know what is wrong , what is good and all possible consequences . The freedom for its part is the ability and power to do things that are desired without causing any harm or negative consequences to the people around us.

Does free will exist or not?

This is actually a very difficult question to answer as everyone has their own opinion about whether or not free will exists. From a religious point of view , free will does exist and was an option inherited by God for which man had the ability to make his own decisions . From a scientific point of view , it is considered that free will as such does not exist , but rather that there is a type of action that is suggested by the brain , which has the ability to veto a decision in the brain.

Examples

Some examples of free will are as follows:

• When a couple decides to marry the person they love, they are exercising their free will in decision-making.
• When a person decides to surround himself with certain friendships, which he considers to be good for his life. In this case, free will is exercised to choose the best companies that help personal or work improvement.
• When an individual decides to believe specific statements whether or not they are influenced by religious principles or beliefs.

Free will in popular culture

Free will is featured in popular culture through books , series, and even movies . Many of these works have been in charge of capturing how difficult it can be to have to face making important decisions as well as the possible consequences that human acts can cause. In movies like “Bruce Almighty” , “Donnie Darko” and “The Matrix” you can see how free will stops to play a very important role.