In responding to the questions below, please reference the articles you read for homework, and use these articles to support your opinions.
Do you believe in the concept
of free will? Or do you think we are too influenced by those around us and by
the way we have been raised to make decisions based on what we truly feel and
believe? How have you seen the concept
of free will played out in your own life?
I think that a part of ourselves is making choice because of everybody around us, to make them happy or unhappy, but we also make choices for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThere is some people who are during all their like trying to make choices for other people around them and think about them after. Their is a second kind of people who want to make their choice only for themselves; people's reaction is not that important for them. And their is a third type of people and I think that it is the majority of us, trying to have a balance between making choice for people and for us.
Some people are making the choice to kill, to steal, cheat. I think that those people whatever happened have the choice before to cross the "evil world". For example Bill who falls in love with his secretary and kill his wife and children; he could just divorce and marry his secretary.
I think that we will always have the choice in our life to make choice, especially between good and evil; but often people chooses the evil side because the are lady to try to do good choices. For some it is just easier to make evil choices.
So do we have truly freedom in our choices ? I think we do, it depends only on your character and your strongness , your weaknesses and your fears.
I think that everyone can make choices, but sometimes these decisions are made due to people and things that surround us. Although our choices may be influenced by how we were raised, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think that parents influence a child’s moral development but that is their role in a child’s life. When that child grows up they may make decisions based on what they have learned from their childhood but I think they are free to make whatever choice they want. The only reason people make decisions that may mirror how they grew up is because they believe that is the right decision to make.
ReplyDeleteWe aren’t tied down to make a choice based on our environment and surrounding, but that does affect us. Steve Taylor says “no matter what social and environmental forces have influenced me, no matter what genes or brain structure I’ve inherited from my parents, I’m here too, and I can decide whether to kick the stone or not.” I completely agree with this statement because it means that these factors can affect the way we make decisions, but they aren’t in complete control. If everyone made decisions based on their inheritance from their parents then everyone would be exactly like their parents, which is not the case.
Overall I think that people do have the free will to make whatever choice they want in life. I think that maybe people are either too lazy or too afraid to think for themselves, and would rather have society tell them what choices to make. Sometimes we make choices because of our environment, but that doesn’t mean every single choice in life is influenced by someone or something. I also think that being influenced by someone or something is not always a bad thing. Sometimes the way we were raised and what we are taught lead us to make the right decisions. “We are potentially much more powerful than we have been led to believe- even to the extent of controlling or altering forces which are supposed to completely control us” (Taylor).
Rebecca Cross
ReplyDeleteIn both these articles we learn about free will. One argues that we do not have free will; our fate is predetermined. The other article says that free will is somewhat true; it shows us the many different arguments as to why we make the "free will" decisions we do. It opened my eyes and made me think, what do I believe is true?
When I first read these articles, it made me think about my own choices. I realized I am strongly influenced by those around me when I make my decisions. I have free will, and I still make my own choices, but they do influence me. Yet, the other arguments in the articles seemed far fetched to me. The simple things in my life that I choose every day are chosen by me; what I eat, where I go to get my coffee, whether or not it's safe to pull out into that intersection, what homework I should do first. Those are the small choices I make based on me. But big decisions, like choosing an SAT class, or what college I want to go to, or simply what prom limo I want to go in. All of those decisions, I believe my friends and family influence. Now, I think that's just how some people are. Personally, every "big choice" I make I think of how others would react or feel about that choice, then I decide if I want to go through with it or not. I still have free will. I still make my own choices. I just think about others before I do.
Some of the things in these articles I completely disagree with. They say that your brain determines whether you are racist, religious, psychopathic, etc. They compare this with depression (a chemical imbalance in your brain). Depression and the brain has been proven, these other things are just hypotheses. I think racism and religion and things of that nature are based on how you are raised. And these definitely affect your free will, because they affect your morality, and your morality affects your decisions.
In the first article they state that people who don’t believe in free will do more bad things. This is obvious, to me. If you believe your fate is predetermined, you won’t feel badly about any decisions you make because you believe they aren’t decisions. If you do something bad, you can just blame it on the world for choosing your fate. This thought shouldn’t be implemented on people because then they will just think that they can do anything and never feel the guilt of it. Like, the Bill example, a man falls in love with his secretary and wants to be with her so he hires someone to kill his wife and three kids. This is terrible, as most people in the survey reacted. But they thought it was okay for Mark to cheat on his taxes. Both things are morally wrong, Bill just is an extreme. Yet, if this is the extreme of this idea, we all know it’s terrible, we just don’t want to come to terms with the fact that determinism isn’t real because then we can’t use it as a crutch when we make a bad decision.
Both these articles taught me what my standpoint is on free will. We choose our own destiny because we have free will, like we see in the Adam and Eve story. Yet just because we choose our own fate, that doesn’t mean we cannot be swayed by others. My opinion of this is summed up in this one quote from the second article, “No matter what social and environmental forces have influenced me [...] I’m in here too, and I can decide whether to kick the stone or not”. It doesn’t matter what others say or do, we make our own choices because we have free will to do whatever we feel is right.
The topic of free will is difficult to argue when much of the human brain activity is happening unconsciously. I believe that everyone has a predetermined ‘path’, but people also have the free will to diverge from it if they choose to do so. This path that we follow is influenced by our genetics and family history, like the article from Psychology Today states, but this is only a rough outline as to what we choose to do. Many people conform to this outline because it requires putting no thought into an action, and is apart of people’s comfort zone. I am a naturally shy person, due to my genes or my unconscious psyche, I do not know. I would rather listen to someone talk all day long than to speak in front of 300 people. This is what is comfortable to me, although I could choose to speak any time I want because I am physically capable. I have exercised this free will numerous times in certain environments, and found that it has offered me different opportunities.
ReplyDeleteThe background path is started early in life, and is altered easily. The environment that one has grown up in and morals that has been taught at a young age also define this path. The people with the ability to cheat in the experiment defined in The New York Times article. Not all of the people with the option to cheat did, and that is due to the morals that they were brought up with. To relate this with the novel East of Eden, one could take Abra’s lack of initiative in getting away from Aron as a lesson she learned from her mother who stays with her cheating husband who embezzled money. We even receive thoughts from Cal to confirm how difficult it is to stray from the typical path of bad that the ‘C’ characters follow. These environmental influences shape the path, but one is still able to stray from it.
There has obviously been times where myself and people I know have strayed from the easier path of life. The example used in the first paragraph portrays how my life is able to change, and the results from it. Another example is my cousin, who caused a difficult rift between her mother and herself because she wanted to be with a man her mother disagreed with. She easily could have kept the family together and chose family over her boyfriend, but she chose the decision that involved more effort. I could stop this reflection right now because I am not interested in the topic, but it is easier to suck it up and write it for a better grade. The choices we make in our lives are mostly predetermined but can be changed if one feels like changing their opportunities.
Do you believe in the concept of free will? Or do you think we are too influenced by those around us and by the way we have been raised to make decisions based on what we truly feel and believe? How have you seen the concept of free will played out in your own life?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe in free will (I think that free will or not we should still do good things because that is the right thing to do). We are of course influenced by our upbringing and surrounding but that does not influence what we do like if I decide to adjust my glasses just now I decided to do that I did not adjust them because my mom has glasses or anything. We may decide to wear a shirt because it reminds us of a dead grandma but that still is free will. I make millions of choices a day some bigger that others. But doing bad things and blaming it on the non-existence of free will is just ignorant and lazy.
Do you believe in the concept of free will? Or do you think we are too influenced by those around us and by the way we have been raised to make decisions based on what we truly feel and believe? How have you seen the concept of free will played out in your own life?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe in free will (I think that free will or not we should still do good things because that is the right thing to do). We are of course influenced by our upbringing and surrounding but that does not influence what we do like if I decide to adjust my glasses just now I decided to do that I did not adjust them because my mom has glasses or anything. We may decide to wear a shirt because it reminds us of a dead grandma but that still is free will. I make millions of choices a day some bigger that others. But doing bad things and blaming it on the non-existence of free will is just ignorant and lazy.
To be completely honest I believe that most of the choices we make in our lives are driven by the people around us and what is "acceptable." Yet there are definitely cases were we make choices on our own based on how we truly feel or believe in.
ReplyDeleteWe can connect this concept to our daily lives as high school students. As adolescence we want to fit in and feel good about ourselves and we will do what ever we can to do so. A good example is when a kid likes a certain group of people but the "popular" kids think that they are losers and nerds. This could make that kid completely change his point of view on his actual friends and join the "cool" kids because he believes that this will make him fit in better. In the article Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It's the Only Choice they do an experiment were you receive a dollar for every correct answer on the test, before hand however they are told that there is a way to cheat. The study shocked the scientists because they found through their data that most people cheated (they didn't receive the money). They cheated because they knew that it would be the easiest way to get the money even though they knew that it wasn't the honest way.
The other percent of the population however do have free will. An example to back this up is when a kid is offered drugs. Some kids you could say would say yes because that is what will make them "cool" even though it is bad for you. The other half will say no, to not giving in and doing what is right for them and not others. I do not believe that any of the characters have free will in the East of Eden. Adam is controlled by Cathy, Cathy does what ever to save her self, Aron can't live without support, and Lee can't leave because he has no where to go. The only character that has an ounce of free will is Cal. Although his actions may be bad but he does them knowing what will happen and doesn't give in to what other people say or tell him to do.
Over all I believe that the world is changing into people depending on others and doing what it takes to fit in. However some may argue that it is changing with more acceptance towards people. People will argue either way, but I believe (as a high school student) that many of us are driven by what people are expecting out of us.
This is by Ryan Gillooly
DeleteAlso sorry for posting it three times haha.
DeleteTo be completely honest I believe that most of the choices we make in our lives are driven by the people around us and what is "acceptable." Yet there are definitely cases were we make choices on our own based on how we truly feel or believe in.
ReplyDeleteWe can connect this concept to our daily lives as high school students. As adolescence we want to fit in and feel good about ourselves and we will do what ever we can to do so. A good example is when a kid likes a certain group of people but the "popular" kids think that they are losers and nerds. This could make that kid completely change his point of view on his actual friends and join the "cool" kids because he believes that this will make him fit in better. In the article Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It's the Only Choice they do an experiment were you receive a dollar for every correct answer on the test, before hand however they are told that there is a way to cheat. The study shocked the scientists because they found through their data that most people cheated (they didn't receive the money). They cheated because they knew that it would be the easiest way to get the money even though they knew that it wasn't the honest way.
The other percent of the population however do have free will. An example to back this up is when a kid is offered drugs. Some kids you could say would say yes because that is what will make them "cool" even though it is bad for you. The other half will say no, to not giving in and doing what is right for them and not others. I do not believe that any of the characters have free will in the East of Eden. Adam is controlled by Cathy, Cathy does what ever to save her self, Aron can't live without support, and Lee can't leave because he has no where to go. The only character that has an ounce of free will is Cal. Although his actions may be bad but he does them knowing what will happen and doesn't give in to what other people say or tell him to do.
Over all I believe that the world is changing into people depending on others and doing what it takes to fit in. However some may argue that it is changing with more acceptance towards people. People will argue either way, but I believe (as a high school student) that many of us are driven by what people are expecting out of us.
To be completely honest I believe that most of the choices we make in our lives are driven by the people around us and what is "acceptable." Yet there are definitely cases were we make choices on our own based on how we truly feel or believe in.
ReplyDeleteWe can connect this concept to our daily lives as high school students. As adolescence we want to fit in and feel good about ourselves and we will do what ever we can to do so. A good example is when a kid likes a certain group of people but the "popular" kids think that they are losers and nerds. This could make that kid completely change his point of view on his actual friends and join the "cool" kids because he believes that this will make him fit in better. In the article Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It's the Only Choice they do an experiment were you receive a dollar for every correct answer on the test, before hand however they are told that there is a way to cheat. The study shocked the scientists because they found through their data that most people cheated (they didn't receive the money). They cheated because they knew that it would be the easiest way to get the money even though they knew that it wasn't the honest way.
The other percent of the population however do have free will. An example to back this up is when a kid is offered drugs. Some kids you could say would say yes because that is what will make them "cool" even though it is bad for you. The other half will say no, to not giving in and doing what is right for them and not others. I do not believe that any of the characters have free will in the East of Eden. Adam is controlled by Cathy, Cathy does what ever to save her self, Aron can't live without support, and Lee can't leave because he has no where to go. The only character that has an ounce of free will is Cal. Although his actions may be bad but he does them knowing what will happen and doesn't give in to what other people say or tell him to do.
Over all I believe that the world is changing into people depending on others and doing what it takes to fit in. However some may argue that it is changing with more acceptance towards people. People will argue either way, but I believe (as a high school student) that many of us are driven by what people are expecting out of us.
I do believe in the concept of free will. In many ways today people make choices guided by their surroundings, but in the end their morality will determine the outcomes of their choice. I believe the idea of free will has a sensitive balance to it. Free will to me is taking account of my surroundings and weighing my decisions on the good and/or bad outcomes of it. Then from there, I would choose whether or not to behave or act in a specific way.
ReplyDeleteIn the article from The New York Times, it discusses two people in an experiment. Mark and Bill. Mark was making the decision to cheat on his taxes, whereas Bill was planning to murder his wife and three children in order to be with his secretary. Many people immediately see Bill guilty of his immoral behavior. Eventually the respondents would evaluate that Mark wasn't completely moral about his cheating but give him break. I believe that many of the respondents evaluated each individual in this experiment by the outcomes. They weighed out the good and bad results and then rationalized if they were moral in making their decision. In this case they see Mark as being mostly moral and realize his environment in this case has partially guided his morality. With Bill, many of the respondents see his decision as being completely immoral. Bill's self evaluation of his choice was outweighed by the bad decision to the good decisions significantly. That is why they saw his choice to be immoral.
I often see the concept of free will incorporated in my own life. In many scenarios I contemplate whether to make good or bad decisions at home, in the workplace, and at school. At home I make choices to do chores or not to. At work I make decisions to admit my mistakes or not. Then at school I make the choice to do my work or not.
Free will is an interesting topic that will always differ as being real or imaginative when getting opinions from person to person. Depending on someone’s life and even who they are influenced by can help them to either understand free will or just be completely oblivious to it. There are people in this world who believe in fate. There are times in my life when things happen to me that I believe are fate, and there are other times when I know that I have to make a decision for something to actually happen. After reading the articles and understanding the characters in East of Eden, I believe that free will is something that people have to believe in and being deterministic is something that a person has to believe in as well for them to be either one.
ReplyDeleteThere was a religious determinism that people had believed in that was called Predestination. This was when people believed that God had basically planned out their life and all of the choices they make when they are born. All of the outcomes of that person’s life was determined and they basically had no free will. This is what some people just believed in and that made it true to them. That’s what people who believe in free will think as well. “Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills” (Tierney 3). What does this quote even mean? I believe that it means that there are things that we have a choice about in this world but sometimes things may already be determined that we cannot control.
I always will believe that people have a choice in their life, it’s just the people who understand that they have a choice which will actually make a difference. When thinking about East of Eden, I can tell the difference between the characters who understand that they have free will, and the characters who believe that their life is determined and there is nothing that they can do about it. Abra is a character who I believe knows what she wants when she realizes that Aron is no longer there for her and she has awareness that she has the choice to not be with him. This is compared to Adam who is completely unaware of the fact that he has a choice to not care about Cathy anymore, or has a choice to be with his sons, or has a choice to tell his sons about Cathy.
People around us will always have an impact in our life no matter what. This doesn’t mean that the environment we live in and the people we surround ourselves with will be able to make us aware of the way we really feel and the choices we really want to make. “A hypothetical person in a hypothetically deterministic world would not be responsible for his sins” (Tierney 3). This quote is something that just isn’t even somewhat true to me because we do not live in a deterministic world. People don’t know when things are going to happen and we don’t know anything that is “for sure” in this world. Everyone is as “Free as they decide to be” as the title of Steve Taylor’s article. People who know that they have a choice of free will, will take it and live with it. People who are deterministic think otherwise. No matter who you are surrounded by and no matter what genes you have inherited from your parents, you will always be able to make your own decisions if you are aware of it. Free will plays a part in my life every single day. If there is someone I want to be around, I will and if there is someone I don’t want to be around, vice versa. I make my own decisions, which doesn’t mean that I never go along with my friends decisions, but it just means that I am aware that I have a choice in my life to be great and make my own choices. I think that fate is really what you make it out to be and if you know that you have an opportunity to make it how you want, that’s all the free will you need.
Everybody in life has free will, whether they see it or not. There are so many options in life and people have the freewill to chose whatever they want. Some people have more choices than others, and sometimes there are factors that can get in the way of a choice, such as mental illnesses. For example, in East of Eden, Tom Hamilton is a character who shows signs that he’s depressed. He has the same choices as everyone else, but chooses to end his life. His life may not have been as easy as say Will’s life, but he still had other options. He could have sought help, but instead he let his guilt get to him and lead him to his suicide. Another character who had hardships in his life as well was Lee. Lee grew up in a situation that is not so ideal. He could have done the exact same thing as Tom Hamilton, and ended his life, but he chose to see the good in life. Not everyone has the same number of choices, or the same choices, but there is always going to be a choice in life.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It’s the Only Choice, there was a study done that measured certain factors of worker’s lives and noticed how that affected their ratings on the job they had. Those that believed in free will, and were satisfied with their lives, had higher ratings. I think this is a great example that can be applied to high school students as well. High School students live different lives, have different problems, and lives, but in the end we all have the ultimate decision to have a positive outlook on life and change things if they aren’t satisfying us. Sometimes free will isn’t easy either. Most high school students want to get good grades and eventually go to college. Every student has the choice to work hard, study, and do homework, to make it there. Some people don’t believe they can achieve such a goal because something gets in the way, for example, a student’s phone is buzzing all night while they’re trying to read, so their reading homework never got done. As hard as it may actually be, there is always the option or turning the phone off. Free will can improve someone's morality and shape them to become better performers.
There are so many influences in life, and sometimes those guide us towards decisions that aren’t always the most beneficial. But in the end, everyone still has that option to ignore the influences. It may be hard, but it is something that’s possible. As the article How Free Are You? As Free as You Decide to Be said, “...all of these factors have some sort influence on our behavior. They all affect us to some degree, but none of them are completely dominant.” This is very true, and I think it can be applied to any situation. Cal for example, was very tempted to spiral down into a life of misery after his father refused his money and practically shamed him for even attempting to “compete” with Aron as the favorite child. Cal had so many factors that could have pushed him to go down that sort of path, a path of guilt, shame, and misery, but he rose against those factors and his inheritance, and listened to Lee’s ideas and morals.
I have seen the idea of free will in my life often. There are so many influences and distractions that try to push me in a different direction, but in the end, I’m always going to have to choice to change anything. I see myself relating with Abra a lot because she sees the bad things that bring herself down, such as Aron trying to change her into his own person, as she changes it. She decided to be with someone else who doesn’t try to recreate her into someone else, she does things that are beneficial towards her well being. Overall, I think that everyone has different lives, obviously, and different factors pulling them in different directions, but we all have the free will the pull away from those things and find what makes us happy and content.
I feel that at early stages in a person's life their environment and the people around them influence their decision making tremendously. This is pretty self explanatory based on the fact that they are only children and most likely don't have their own opinion on many topics.
ReplyDeleteAs people grow older, their ability to create and even express their own opinion becomes stronger, people always say that "with age, comes wisdom". I agree with that statement because as you get older you become more willing to share your own opinion, and also you are less influenced by the people around you because with your age comes knowledge that you should not let other people alter what you are going to say, or change your beliefs.
Based off what I said above, I do believe that free will is something that you come more and more associated with the older you get. I do think that young kids and some older people are too influenced by their surroundings to make decisions based off what they truly feel, But for the other people, mostly older people, they do not get affected as much by their surrounds, resulting in them being able to make decisions based of how they actually feel about something.
One way that I have seen this idea play out in my life is through politics. I do not get very in depth into politics but as a child and even too this day to some extent the way that I see politics is extremely influenced by my parents. They are democrats and are moderately apposed to the republican party, as a child i always heard positive talk about democrats and negative talk about republicans. I do agree that the way you are raised does affect the way you feel or think about certain topics.
I do believe in free will. Although in East of Eden there are characters who are portrayed to be on a pre-determined path of moral based decision making, this is not realistic. Regardless of religious belief, the fact of the matter is that people make decisions every single day not matter how small. Making a decision changes the course of your life which means that you have determined your own path.
ReplyDeleteTo say that we all have the ability to exhibit free will is not to say that everyone does. The reason that this is a debate worthy question in the first place is that there is a large percentage of people who do not exercise this ability to make independent choices. It is very difficult to go against public opinion, or stand up for your beliefs in an environment that wants to shut them down. However it is very possible to do this and however shy or timid a person is they do have the physical ability to make their own choice and ignore the external pressures of society.
One example of exhibiting free will in my life was my argument with my mom regarding whether or not I would play football. She was very worried about concussions and was adamant that I not play. However I weighed the risk and reward of this decision independently and made my own decision to play despite pressure to not participate.
In conclusion, exhibiting free will is a process that requires courage. This is a trait that every person has inside them, but some exhibit less often than others. The decision to make your own choices in itself shows free will, which means that it most certainly exists.
I believe that everyone has free will. We might be influenced by others and by the way we have been raised, but I feel like in the end we have free will. As we grow and mature, I believe that we have more free will. We have the ability to understand situations better and develop our own opinions. For example, when we are young, we make decisions based on what we have learned from our parents. When I grew older, I experienced this and it definitely influenced the choices I made. "With the help of our parents, as we move through childhood, we hopefully begin to control our impulses and desires." When we become older we can have our own opinions and disagree with things our parents do. "'Free will guides people's choices toward being more moral and better performers,' Dr. Vohs said." We can learn from mistakes that we see, and we have the free will to act morally.
ReplyDeleteAt an early age we learn and see different types of behavior. "They may predispose us to certain types of behavior, but we can use our autonomy to resist those influences, to control and even re-mould our behavior." We have free will to express ourselves through our behavior. I believe that we can overcome what we are predisposed to seeing. It may be hard to behave differently from what we know, but it will help us become who we truly are. Free will gives us the opportunity to find ourselves.
In East of Eden, we see some characters take on their free will to be good or evil. We also see characters rebel against what they are predisposed to and we see how their behavior changes. For example, Cathy made the choice to be evil and she acted out with evil actions. Lee also believes that everyone has a choice and he believes in the concept of free will. He thinks that everyone is born with free will and that free will defines a person. I would have to say that I agree with Lee, and I believe in the concept of free will.
Nicholas Machado
ReplyDelete3/23/16
Period B
Acc American lit.
Blog Question
I believe in the concept of free will but I also do believe that we make decisions based upon other people around us and also by the way we have been raised to make decisions. Determinism is the purpose that all behavior is caused by preceding factors and is thus predictable. The laws of determinism is based on cause and effect and i believe most of the decisions that are made are done through determinism. Free will is the idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assume that we are free to choose our behavior, in other words, we are self determined. I also agree that this occurr too but i believe decisions are made more through a deterministic perspective.
One reason why I believe that most of the time it is determinism is because most people make decisions that are influenced by either the way they were raised or by the people they are around. For example Lee from the text East of Eden was so important to the novel was because of his ways of helping others and knowing how to help people through things. I believe he was only this influential because of the way he grew up and his past on finding out how his mother died and not being lied to about her way of death. Like it is said in the article How free are? “Social and environmental forces completely determine our behaviour and so forth”. This just shows that Lee learning how his mother died at a young age put him down the path to make him the type of character he is throughout the book East of Eden.
Although most of the time people are making decisions in a deterministic way people also have free will. I believe many people are free to choose things and are not affected by others. For example in the article Do we have free will it says “ free will guides people’s choices towards being more moral and better performers”. What this means is that having free will allows people to make better choices because they are not going by other peoples opinions and are not influenced to make the wrong decisions. One time I have seen the concept of free will play out in my life. That decision is when I decided to quit other sports I was playing and just focus on baseball and it all worked out. With me not playing other sports my decision helped me train more for baseball and get me the starting job on varsity. This decision was all mine and was not influenced by anyone else not even my parents.
In real life I believe everyone has a choice in every decision, but our choices may be strongly persuaded by the way we grew up. In East of Eden there were two different types of characters, the "good" people and then the "bad" people. Steinbeck also assigned each group a letter. The "good" group had names that began with A. the "bad" group had names beginning with a C. This was because of the allusion between East of Eden and the Cain and Abel story.
ReplyDeleteDuring this story, the A group. Adam, Aron, and Abra, made choices that could be categorized as simple, good, while the C group, Charles, Cathy, and Cal made choices that leaned toward the evil side. Although this pattern is seen continuously throughout the book, the option for good was always there, even within Cathy. Within some people free will is hidden deep and cannot be easily seen. I don't believe the question is whether free will exists, I think it is who can make that hard choice between good and evil and change the continually pattern. A great example of this argument is Cal because throughout the book he struggled with the choice the most between all the characters. The readers see this struggle when he prays to God to let him not be evil. This struggle began when Cal realized he loved Aron more then himself. He was always tangled with good and evil, through the duration of the book evil usually won, but at the very end I believe he chooses good. A lot of people could say that he surrender to evil because he showed Aron his mother and her life. It is after this, when he chooses good. It can be taken either way, but on the very last page, Adam says "Timshel" and he is telling Cal to forgive himself and choose the right path, not the destined path.
In conclusion, the choice of free will is within everyone, but the challenge of seeing the ability to choose and the courage to change the future is what blocks people from making the choice.
Free will and the influence others have both contribute to making certain decisions. Each scenario that life throws at you can either be dealt with your own decisions or the decisions of others can persuade you into a different thought process. It really all depends on the person.
ReplyDeleteSome have grown up not knowing any better than what they have been taught by their families. So, there are choices that you are sort of obligated to make. Adam was expected to go into the army because it was something Cyrus constantly brought up. I don't think that decision was so much free will, but more of a decision made based on his family members' choices. Adam was influenced greatly by his dad which is why he did what he did. In the second article it mentions that "behavior is completely determined by our genes". This is not true because each human has their own traits, their own feelings, and their own thought process. It's crazy to think someone's decisions are only made by their influences or by their sense of free will.
During the many experiments done in the first article, each individual had their own free will that determined the outcome of each. No one forced to cheat on the arithmetic problems but they did because they chose that they wanted to get the most money they could. This was done by their own free will. Also, Cal had the decision to reveal Kathy to Aron. He didn't have to, but he chose to. This choice was self-determined and wasn't influenced by others.
Each day, everyone is brought face to face with different paths to follow. Many of the time it is your own free will that determines how you go about your path. Sometimes, there is already a predetermined path that you know you should follow. I feel as though I have the choice to make many of my decisions, but I also feel like some choices are made because of my morals. Each play an important role in ones thought process.
When pondering upon the concept of free will, it can be difficult to draw conclusions as to if individuals have free will, or if everything is just pre-determined. With factors such as the environment one grows up in, the lessons they learn from life and the connections they make with their surroundings, people are able to develop an opinion on whether or not one can obtain free will. How somebody chooses to look and build upon their own situation is entirely up to the individual. While some people’s lives will be more based upon determinism, the effort an individual puts into changing their life is what actually will lead them down their specific path.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve heard the story before: A young man, coming from a wonderful family. This kid has good grades, is involved in the community and nobody ever would’ve seen him going down the wrong path. Then all of a sudden, it becomes publically known that he’s a heavy drug addict. While his past would have determined a bright future, he took the choice to go down the wrong path. Then think of a similar story but vise versa: A young girl who grows up in an abusive family. Her parents are both alcoholics, and she’s living with little to no guidance. Her life seems as though it’s going to amount up to nothing, based on her given situation. Yet, this girl grows up to be an influential, well-rounded person. What is causing these unlikely turnouts to happen? The power and presence of free will. Even with odds pushed against individuals, people have the choice to push back, “...we can overcome our programming” (How Free Are You?). Even in East of Eden, we see characters such as Lee, who is born into a sinful world but overcomes the impossible, yet people like Adam given much more opportunity sit around and do nothing. This clearly exemplifies the free will people are given in life. In my life, when given tough situations, I have to conquer everything from emotion to physical boundaries to achieve success, such as in running. I’m not a natural good runner but it took me determination to succeed.
To summarize, people have to put forward a tremendous effort in order to change their fate. With free will, people can carry themselves to the next level.
I do believe in free will. Although I find myself being more of a "compatibilist" where I believe that we have a choice, but not the choice to chose that choice. Our choice is predetermined by our experiences. Every experience we have affects us in the decisions we make, even if that experience isn't directed toward us.I do believe, however, that we have a choice to do that predetermined choice or not, but it takes great motivation to make it. I believe it takes so much motivation that many people can't make the "free will" because it is so much harder than going with the predetermined choice.
ReplyDeleteThe choices we make are hardly ever random decisions that just "came to us". The choice are based on previous experiences that affect us in some way, even if that way isn't noticed by us. Maybe a certain person wears a certain kind of shirt to school one day and you see it. You don't talk to him about it, but it will still affect the way you think about wearing the shirt of the same kind. We are taught to be our own person while we are young, yet in our youth we discover that while being told to be our own person, we are told subconsciously to follow others. The rules, parents insisting we make friends with this certain person, and how we are suppose to conduct ourselfs in public are all things that parents tell us to follow and they are also the things that make us to makes decisions that are heavily affected by others.
I have very little free will, even though I would love to say otherwise. Many of decisions are based on experiences I've had and people that have influenced me. I do know that I have demonstrated free will at a few points in my life. These very few choices were things that I had very very high motivation to do. My "free will" choices were choices where the experiences I've had pointed to one decision while I really wanted another decision on the same topic. All together, free will is too rare in my life to actually make much of a impact.
I believe that there is free will, but there is also determinism. I think that our free will is based on determinism while determinism also shares underlying tones of free will. We are influenced by people around us, but we can still make our own decisions. We can also determine ourselves. We determine what we want to do, but is known as free will.
ReplyDeleteSociety also has influence on people, but we can still make a decision that society does not agree with. Society does determine what some people do, but it is also their choice whether they do it or not. For example, many people believed that couples of the same sex should not be together and not be able to marry. You would still see same-sex couples out, which is their choice, their will that they have the right. And that determined society to make same-sex marriage legal.
So in a way, free will and determinism rely on eachother. People can try and brainwash you into making a decision, and some still go with it, but others will choose their own path.
I think free will is in everyone. It says in the end of the first article "The more researchers that investigate free will, the more god reasons there are to believe in it". It seems that free will is in everyone but you can choose to let some things influence you as stated in the end of the second article. We all must have fee will, an example of my about is that I have fee will yet I am influenced by ideas . I expose myself to for example I expose my self to the movie "The Revenant" and it influenced my ideas about the meaning of life, and the struggle of being human. I didn't have to take anything away from that movie but I did because I chose to let it influence me.
ReplyDeleteI do think that everyone has some free will. I think that we all have certain choices that we make that can define us or change our lives. Somethings might be out of our control, because they are destined to happen, but not everything is like that. I think that we have the choice to perceive different situations in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI think that we definitely are influenced heavily by others, however we still have free will. Some people might give into others' influences and fall for the traps, but you don't have to. People do things because they think that have to or else they won't fit in or be cool or something. I think that in my own life I have a lot of free will. I try my best to not let peer pressure or the thoughts of other determine how I will live my life. Sometimes they pressure does get to people, but I'd like to think that most of the time I am in control. I might not be able to control what other people do, but I try to control what I do.
In East of Eden, there are a lot of characters that seem to not have free will. Characters like Cathy seem predestined to be evil and carry out all of the bad things that she does. I think that if Cathy was a real person, she would have chosen to do those awful things to so many people because it doesn't seem like people can be born evil. I think Cathy was influenced by her parents and she seems to have no free will, so I think that is a little unrealistic. In the article "How Free Are You? As Free as You Decide to Be", it says that even though we might think that we have free will, we are all influenced by others. I agree with this thinking because I think we definitely do have the choice of what we do, but what others think can have a big impact on what you do.
In the article in The New York Times, titled "Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It's the Only Choice", it says that people who doubt or don't believe in free will, think that not have free will is an excuse for their actions. I definitely think that people who go around in life thinking that they have no control of their lives, think that there is no way to change any of their actions. If a man does not believe in free will he might put that to blame for his actions. If everyone believed that they had, to some extent, some free will then they might want to chose to do the better things. I think that, for the most part, humans do possess free will, we just have to be the ones to realize it and act on it.
We all have the ability to make independent decisions that shape our lives uniquely. Many may argue that we don’t have free will. However, those people could be people that are not willing to stand up for what that believe and need an excuse to make themselves believe it is an impossible for them to do something difficult because all our decisions are predetermined. In East of Eden Lee had an extremely sad and hard childhood, but instead of being a cold or closed up person, he chose to forgive and attempt to make others adopt his way of living, having free will.
ReplyDeleteIn the second article, it argues that genetics, the chemistry of the brain, and enviroment drives the decisions we make. Genetics play an important role in decisions we make because of different personalities that we could have inherited. Our decision making is partitally determined by our genes but also by our enviroment such as the opinions of friends and family and media. But, the idea any of these theories, genes, neuroscience, or enviroment, are the sole driving force of all our decisions is implausable. Our decisons are influenced by theses things and can make our decisions harder or easier for us but, in the end we all have free will to make decisons for ourselves.
In East of Eden, the emphasized gentics Cal inherited are the evil characteristics of Cathy. Cal is definatly influenced by this evilness he inherited but, he often gains control of his genetics and tries to be good and suceeds at it. The enviroment that Cal lives in where he was second best to Aron also affected Cal and made jelous of Aron but he also was able to overcome the jelously and encouraged his brother to finish school early and pay for college.
Everyone is affected by things we can’t control like our genetics and enviroment but, instead of letting those things dictate our lives we can make independent decisions for ourselves regaurdless of what influeneces us. It is difficult and will be a struggle to stand up not only to other people but, to yourself as well. However, the hardest decision to make may be whether or not you will believe and embrace free will.
I believe in free will because I think that there are decisions we make that are purely because we want to. Biological and Environmental factors greatly influence us, but I don't think they make the final decision. I think people would be more similar if we did not have free will. Everyone is so unique. Of course everyone has a different environment, but we have the choice on how we react to those environmental situations. When faced with a decision our morals are going to tell us what to do, but sometimes if a decision is really thought through, a person may realize that their instinctive response might be wrong. Although I believe we have the power of free will, it is not always used. Sometimes we do do things that are a direct result of what our parents have told us, or how experiences in life has changed us. Our personality and morals are greatly influenced by environment, but the core of who we are is unique to every person and cannot be influenced by environment.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a free choice? Save perhaps for a completely random choice, every decision is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The second article says that “Our own free will is another force, amongst this chaotic coalition of different influences.” I agree with this quote because our will is something that influences us. I think that a free choice could be defined as when someone makes a choice where environmental and genetic factors are not the only factors driving the decision. Environmental and genetic factors can also be part of a free choice, but the element of simply wanting to do something has to be there. I love horseback riding, but no one in my family liked animals so why do I like it? One could say that I had a good friend who liked horses and there were horses living near my house, but a lot of other people had that combination of environmental factors and do not share my love of horseback riding .
Did Steinbeck want the reader to believe that they had free will, or that we lived in a deterministic world? In East of Eden there are deterministic characters and characters that have free will. Lee tells adam that he doesn’t have free will because Adam doesn’t have the ability to really think through something. Lee has the ability to see something from many perspectives and that gives him insight that Adam doesn’t have. Adam can only see things one way and that is why he does not have free will. Lee’s mother died a horrific death and he is often faced with discrimination because he is Chinese American. Many people might resent human nature after having dealt with these issues, but Lee makes a choice to use this knowledge of the bad side of human nature to provide perspective and offer other people advice. Part of what makes us human is that we sometimes do things that have nothing to do with our environment or genetics. Lee says, “ ...think of the glory of the choice! That makes a man a man. A cat has no choice, a bee must make honey, There’s no godliness there”(Steinbeck 304). Lee says this while trying to explain the concept of timshel to Adam. Lee’s revelation does not really resonate with Adam, but for Lee it means that he is not bound by his past or what other people think of him.
I believe that our lives are a combination of both. We have free will to chose whether or not be want other people to change us or "determine" our individual paths. This free will almost works hand in hand with determinism because we have free will to chose a solution to a problem or a solution and those situations define who we are. An example would be that I have the choice to not study for my math test but the outcome wouldn't be as good compared to if I studied.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that people have an influence on who we are and who we turn out to be in life. Especially our parents, because they raise us, tell us what to do, give us advice, help us, nurture us, love us, care for us, etc. Our parents impact our lives in good and bad ways. Mom's in particularly want to wrap us in bubble wrap and never want to see us get hurt, but how are we supposed to have free will when she does that? If our parents try to shelter us our whole lives we will live sheltered lives and not go out and experience anything. You can relate East of Eden to this easily because Cyrus was absent in Adams life and Charles, he was more worried about himself. Then he chose Adam as the favorite child which determined Adams Fatherhood. I say this, because Adam chose Aron as his favorite child and was absent in their lives during most of their lives.
Now Adam had the choice of Free Will to not choose a favorite child but he did it anyways and didn't realize the impact until it was too late. We all have free will to chose what happens in our lives but our environment and the people around us do have a say in who we turn out to be.
There are many things to consider when talking about whether or not we have free will. Many arguments on both sides. Technically we choose everything we do, determinists believe that our choices aren’t actually our choices, they’re predetermined. Some of the decisions we make are “driven by forces beyond our conscious control.”
ReplyDeleteI believe that our choices are influenced by our enviornment, our nurture and our loved ones around us. Even then with influences the choice is still ours. If someone says repeatedly for you to choose something, you're not necessarily going to choose it. Especially in a situation that most of us are seeing today, college. Many people are going to suggest colleges for us to go to. Yet the choice is still ours.
There are many arguments for both sides but I truly believe in free will. I think that we are definitely influenced to do things. However, Cal chose to show Aron Cathy and indirectly kill him. Cal chose to burn the money. Cathy chose to kill her parents and shoot Adam.
Over the course of our lives we will contemplate free will and determinism as if they are two different things. Conversely I believe that the two are one in the same and are more closely related than we think. The concept of free will is widely debated as a result from inadequate evidence of both free will or determinism. Whether free will exist or not there is no way of humans to know for sure because we don’t know what is going to happen next in our lives. We can not see into the future. Humans are forced to live in the moment and future moments are unknown. The definition of Determinism is being able to predict behavior based on preceding factors however no one or no thing has the ability to predict the future. I believe that there is a reason is to why things happen and somehow there is a way to know or predict (determinism) but since no one has proven this feat to be possible I believe the idea of free will to also be relevant.
ReplyDeleteIn East of Eden characters contemplate the idea of Timshel. Although some characters like Cathy and mostly Aron seem to lack the freedom of choice, other characters like Cal, Adam, and Lee seem to embrace timshel. Since the characters are not unanimously embracing the idea of timshel it further proves my point of the interconnection between the two ideas. In the first article it advocates that we have a choice over the decisions we make. However in the second article it discusses the science of the brain and the genes with which we are born with. They argue that those genes determine the choices we make. Although the article seems convincing using science to their advantage, the ideas are still theories and need to be proven. The inadequate amount of evidence in the articles proves my theory that free will and determinism are very closely related.
Many People, when thinking about free will, think of anytime you make a choice you chose it because you wanted it. You could have chosen anything but you chose this, that is many people’s definition of free will. You chose this because YOU wanted to. But i think there is no free will at all. I believe that a combination of Genetics your upbringing, and many other factors lead to any decision you make in life, all the way down to the decision of what to wear when you first wake up, this is called Naturalism. A naturalist believes that people do not have free will but factors such as their environment and heredity influence decision-making. For this assessment many people say that people have free will but are influenced by upbringing and environment, this statement is contradictory. How can you have free will but also be influenced by other sources?
ReplyDeleteThe articles we’ve read both argue that humans do not really have free will “You might feel as if you are a free human being.. But in reality, everything you do, or think or feel, is a result of environmental influences” (Article 2). In article 1 a experiment was done on a group of people, they were asked to take a quiz on the computer, however the computer had a glitch that would give you answers. The subjects were asked not to exploit the glitch, and many didn’t exploit it, until they were offered $1 for each correct answer, people were more likely to cheat because of the money factor involved.
In East of Eden this is extremely prevalent, when Adam turns away Cal’s gift he ends up bringing Aron to see Cathy, eventually causing Aron’s death. I believe that everyone agrees that the fact that Cal had grown up as the lesser of the two brothers, and not loved as much, caused this mental break, even after Cal talks to Lee about Timshel and “free will” he still does this horrible act. This proves that your upbringing can trump “doing that right thing”. I believe that if you are raised to do the right thing and have strong moral character, then you can make right choices.
In conclusion I believe in the concept of Naturalism where you are influenced by different factors such as, Upbringing, genetics, and the background of a choice, leads you to a decision and free will is just a characteristic that Humans like to think they have, when in reality every choice you make is influenced one way or another
Free will, it’s a concept some grasp and others don’t. The reason some grasp it and others choose not to is in itself free will. You hold control to have the choice to decide to believe that you do or do not have choice over your actions. The characters in East of Eden struggled daily with free will and how it had worked. Some characters such as Cathy just let it take over their minds and led themselves to believe that there was no other way things could’ve played out. She was stuck in belief that she had no other choice and she was destined to use and manipulate people. While other people such as Cal learned that there is free will in life and that he did have the choice and strength to turn around his life and actions to what he actually wanted. He had learned that he wasn’t caught in a life plan but rather he could take a path that best suits him. A quote from one of the articles was “Or ,perhaps, denying free will simply provides the ultimate excuse to behave as one likes” I very strongly agree with this quote, I believe that everybody has the ability to make choices in their lives. People can decide whether to be nice or mean, motivated or unmotivated it’s all up to you. I do also see the point of genetics and influence. I do also agree that how you're brought up and in what environment you're brought up in affects your morals. You may be taught certain things when you are younger but that doesn’t meant that you cannot change your own views. So I believe that in life people have free will and can make their lives whatever they wish them to be.
ReplyDeleteI think that a part of ourselves is making choices because of the people that are around us. We made our own choices, but the choices we make are influenced by the people we associate ourselves with. Even with these influences, the choices we make are still our choices. They are not predetermined. For example in East of Eden, Cal chose to show Adam the truth about Cathy, he chose to burn the money he saved for his father, Cathy chose to kill her parents and she chose to shoot Adam. These are their choices that THEY made no one could have - and probably would have - made them do these deeds.
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