Free Will and Determinism

In this essay I intend to provide a reasonable basis for believing that the world operates

under a compatibilist form of determinism, with the ability to exercise our will in directing our

lives. I will argue my point using Critical Theory, Nietzschean and Hegelian dialect as well as a

Biblical view on God to state that although as humans we lack control of many aspects of our

lives, such as the inability to choose when and where we are born among other things, we have

an immense amount of freedom to choose what we do with our lives. Rather than despairing and

surrendering to a deterministic world, one must take up the will to power to forge a meaningful

life for themselves, and possibly bring others to that realization. But before I can begin, I must

define some terms, that way the reader may understand where the writer is coming from.

First, free will is the belief that one has control over the decisions one makes in life, free

of outside influence. My problem with that definition is that the argument is already framed, to

borrow from Craig Lambert, a writer for Harvard Magazine writing on Robert O. Doyle, a 1968

Harvard astrophysics graduate, “in an either/or way that allows only a rigidly predetermined

universe or a chaotic one totally at the mercy of chance.” (Lambert, 2012, par. 3) Instead I would

redefine free will as the ability of an agent to make conscious decisions or even a random

decision, with an understanding that some problems will have a fixed set of choices. While I do

not believe that one can be free of outside influence, I believe one still retains the ability to

choose while disregarding outside influence.

Next to be defined is determinism. Determinism is the belief that all occurrences and

choices in life have been pre-determined either by God, nature, or some other external force.

Inevitably, we all die, objects break down, and many people do not accomplish all that they have

set out to do in life. Much of our existence is beyond our control. My only problem with this
definition is that the choices have been decided already. While I would agree that a multitude of

things, for lack of a better term, are out of our control, one still retains their ability to choose

what to do with said “things”. I would immediately be confronted by the law of excluded middle,

but I believe that it is remedied by the fact that again, even when given a fixed set of options, one

can still choose what option to take. Determinism can allow a will inside of itself. I could be

misunderstanding, but I would liken it to Descartes’ words, “I think, therefore I am.” Man can sit

and reflect upon his life, and become aware of what is driving him, and where he is headed. With

these terms clarified, I will now address what I believe is the largest problem with this view.

In my compatibilist view of determinism, the first major problem that comes to mind is

who or what is determining the world. While I admit I do not have a concrete answer to that, I

would say that God is deciding. Of course, many will balk at such an answer, but I would see a

god as the only reasonable explanation for such a complex world. The other explanations, such

as the Big Bang theory, given do not seem possible without something or someone there with

great power and knowledge to have started the universe. The claim of the existence of a god also

invites other problems, such as whether he is perfect, all powerful, all knowing etc. As far as all

knowing, the God of Abraham shows himself, despite all his power, to be unaware of our future.

This is exemplified when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As God stops

Abraham from killing Isaac, He says, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing

unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only

son from me.” (Gen. 22:12) The key phrase being, “now I know”. This implies that God did not

know whether Abraham would sacrifice his son, leading me to assume that God does not have a

plan that will dictate our lives. Now with that said, why believe the Abrahamic God? Why not

one of the millions of other gods people follow? To that I would say that history has verified
many of the Abrahamic God’s words. We know of the Israeli people through sources other than

the Bible, such as archeological findings of the sites, and have seen the remnants of their

conquest and fall. While I am sure that many questions remain unanswered, a detailed

description of God is outside the scope of this paper. For now, at the very least, I would say there

is a god due to the intricate design of the universe.

Moving back into the philosophy of compatibilist determinism, the determined nature of

our existence and the existence of a god would not remove personal responsibility from

ourselves. As stated earlier one still retains the ability to choose from the given options, and in

some cases synthesize a new one. Instead of absolving oneself of responsibilities, one must take

up the will to power, as Nietzsche calls it, to make purpose in their life. As Critical Theory

surmises, some would take a person who has surrendered his will and use them to advance their

own agenda, depriving the surrendered of his own expirience. In conclusion, I believe in a form

of compatibilist determinism that allows a will to choose from its given options.