Freedom Of Choice Vs Determinism Essay
Essay on Freedom of Choice and Determinism Based on Slaughterhouse Five The issue of whether free will exists has been widely debated throughout history. The main philosophies on this are determinism (which imposes that free will is false and predeterminism is correct), compatibilism (determinism and free will aren 't mutually exclusive; they 're both correct) and libertarianism (determinism is false, free will is true). However, determinism is non-debatable at this point. With the advances we 've made and are making in fields such as psychology (particularly behaviourism), psychoanalysis, sociology, philosophy, theology, anthropology, physics and biology, we find more and more proof for it every day. In this essay, the ideas brought forward
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In the 1600s, Isaac Newton pictured all time as moving at a fixed pace, identical for everything and everyone everywhere.5 Come the early 1900s, Einstein gave us an new theory: that time is relative; factors such as speed and mass can alter the rate at which time passes for separate objects.6 He “unified space and time into a single 4-D entity.”7 Now, we are being challenged to view time as happening simultaneously, always (as Vonnegut 's Tralfamadorians do). In fact, Julian Barbour, a renowned English physicist, is questioning time as a measurement of change. He believes in the “block universe” (eternalism), that space-time is an unchangeable four-dimensional block.8 This is the version of time that the Tralfamadorians experience. This model allows for absolutely no free will as everything is happening, has happened and will always happen the way it has to occur; “so it goes”, as the one-eyed little green men say. We have no proof that moments exist one at a time other than the fact that we perceive them that way, which is no proof at all. The way the Tralfamadorians see it, “all moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. [...] [They] can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are [...]” (Chapter 2, section 7, paragraph 3). According to the …show more content…
"Do Physicists Really Believe in Quantum Randomness?” Askamathematician.com. (December 15, 2009). Consulted the 22nd of December, 2013. Web.
2. Q is for Quantum: an encyclopedia of particle physics, John Gribbin. Free press, London, 1998. 680 pages.
3. G. & C. Merriam Co., Webster 's New Collegiate Dictionary. Ninth edition. Springfield, Mass. Copyright 1956.
4. Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, Pierre Simon Laplace. Springer, New York, 1995. 271 pages.
5. Weisstein, Eric W. “Cubic Curve.” mathworld.wolfram.com. Consulted the 2nd of January, 2013. Web.
6. “Time According to Einstein 's Theory of Relativity.” thinkquest.org. Consulted the 2nd of January, 2013. Web.
7. Frank, Adam. “There is no such thing as Time.” Popsci.com. Consulted the 3rd of January, 2013. Web.
8. Gołosz, Jerzy. “Presentism, eternalism and the triviality problem.” wydawnictwoumk.pl. (2013) Consulted the 5th of January, 2013. Web.
9. Bhattacharya, Priyanka. “95 percent of our thoughts and decisions occur within the subconscious.” digitalmarket.asia. (August 27, 2012). Consulted the 5th of January, 2013. Web.
10. Essay on the freedom of the will, Arthur Schopenhauer. Dover publications, 2005. 103
In the 1600s, Isaac Newton pictured all time as moving at a fixed pace, identical for everything and everyone everywhere.5 Come the early 1900s, Einstein gave us an new theory: that time is relative; factors such as speed and mass can alter the rate at which time passes for separate objects.6 He “unified space and time into a single 4-D entity.”7 Now, we are being challenged to view time as happening simultaneously, always (as Vonnegut 's Tralfamadorians do). In fact, Julian Barbour, a renowned English physicist, is questioning time as a measurement of change. He believes in the “block universe” (eternalism), that space-time is an unchangeable four-dimensional block.8 This is the version of time that the Tralfamadorians experience. This model allows for absolutely no free will as everything is happening, has happened and will always happen the way it has to occur; “so it goes”, as the one-eyed little green men say. We have no proof that moments exist one at a time other than the fact that we perceive them that way, which is no proof at all. The way the Tralfamadorians see it, “all moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. [...] [They] can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are [...]” (Chapter 2, section 7, paragraph 3). According to the …show more content…
"Do Physicists Really Believe in Quantum Randomness?” Askamathematician.com. (December 15, 2009). Consulted the 22nd of December, 2013. Web.
2. Q is for Quantum: an encyclopedia of particle physics, John Gribbin. Free press, London, 1998. 680 pages.
3. G. & C. Merriam Co., Webster 's New Collegiate Dictionary. Ninth edition. Springfield, Mass. Copyright 1956.
4. Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, Pierre Simon Laplace. Springer, New York, 1995. 271 pages.
5. Weisstein, Eric W. “Cubic Curve.” mathworld.wolfram.com. Consulted the 2nd of January, 2013. Web.
6. “Time According to Einstein 's Theory of Relativity.” thinkquest.org. Consulted the 2nd of January, 2013. Web.
7. Frank, Adam. “There is no such thing as Time.” Popsci.com. Consulted the 3rd of January, 2013. Web.
8. Gołosz, Jerzy. “Presentism, eternalism and the triviality problem.” wydawnictwoumk.pl. (2013) Consulted the 5th of January, 2013. Web.
9. Bhattacharya, Priyanka. “95 percent of our thoughts and decisions occur within the subconscious.” digitalmarket.asia. (August 27, 2012). Consulted the 5th of January, 2013. Web.
10. Essay on the freedom of the will, Arthur Schopenhauer. Dover publications, 2005. 103