Argument and Logic

In the “Free Will Versus Determinism” excerpt, there are two beliefs that do not coincide with each other and thereby characterize the debate of this issue; the first belief is that the behavior of atoms is governed entirely by physical law and the second is that humans have free will. The problem with these two beliefs is that humans are comprised of atoms which we supposedly have free will to control, but the first belief states that the behavior of atoms is entirely controlled by physical laws.

The argument is that atoms are presumed to be governed entirely by physical laws; therefore humans cannot have free will over a body comprised of atoms. The logic supporting this position is that any behavior of atoms has to occur given the existing circumstances due to the physical laws that govern them; if humans have free will, then physical laws do not entirely govern the behavior of atoms in a given circumstance because we have the free will to choose what behaviors our body’s atoms will exhibit in that given circumstance.

One weakness that I observed is in the belief that humans have free will; this belief assumes that humans have free will to choose to do anything that they want, but this is simply not true. I have free will, but I do not have the free will to walk into Wal-Mart naked; if I chose to do this, I know that there would be consequences for my decision. Society alone hinders the free will of humans to ensure the maintaining of socially acceptable behaviors. Free will is a form that is not absolute in the reality of human beings; there are instances when we are able to physically choose behavior of our own free will, but we are not able to do this whenever we want and we may make that decision based on the interests of others.

This exposes the fallacy of a false dilemma by arguing that either humans have free will or the behavior of atoms is governed entirely by physical law. It is possible for the behavior of atoms to be governed entirely by physical law to the extent that the chosen behaviors of a human’s free will initiated processes governed by those physical laws.