JustThink…

Do I act freely? That is, do I assume, I have the choice to act as I please, knowing that I’m accountable for every action I take? Or is every action I take, an effect of a cause from preceding factors I can’t recall or don’t know of, and therefore should not be held accountable for them? Throughout times, many people, whether they be philosophers, doctors, or common folk have stumbled upon these questions as well, and many came to their most logical (to them) conclusion. It is, the cases of Free Will and Determinism.

Well what is Free Will and Determinism? Free will as defined, is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. While determinism on the other hand, is the theory that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. In due course, what both of these positions argue overall, is the amount of responsibility, we are held accountable in regards too our actions. 

Reading Sartre’s Existentialism Is a Humanism, there were a lot of points that where made clear in reference to free will and moral responsibility. He argues that we exist, then throughout our lives we create who it is we ‘are’, our essence. Sartre takes up the position, existence before essence, denying the notion of ‘human nature’, stating that, “man is condemned to be free”. We are born to be the drivers and navigators of our lives, and that it is ‘human condition’. To Sartre, I simply am free to act how I choose to and that there aren’t any excuses for my actions because I simply choose to act them.