Free Will_determinism

John Doe
Can Free Will and Determinism be Compatible?
As human beings, are the actions we take and the decisions we make meant to be, or are they freely chosen by the human being? Many may argue that our destiny is predetermined by a higher power, therefore making it impossible for a human being to freely choose what he/she would really want to do. Yet, we may still think we are in full control of the decisions we make, when in fact the blueprints to our lives are sitting at the right hand of our “god.” This may be a possible belief due to the different coincidences in certain life situations. A certain “miracle” can conclude to it being predetermined and a necessity to understand the next step in life. Looking at the other side of the spectrum, there is also the concept of free will in so far as we have control of every decision we make as human beings. Determinism is impossible for those in belief of free will since an action that was “meant to be” defeats of the purpose of human life. If certain things we as humans decide to do in our lives are simply “meant to be,” then what is the point of living life?
This controversy has gone under much speculation, since the beginning of civilized time, especially when involving religious beliefs. In present times, Catholicism runs under the notion of humans bearing free will. When a sin is deliberately committed, that person is responsible for his/her actions, because she has free will. But in other religions, there’s the possibility that they feel they were predetermined to use their body as a suicide bomb to carry out a certain task. From the moment they were born, it was established that that certain being would carry out certain tasks that affect other human beings, without the prospect of free will.
After much thought in the philosophical world, concepts started to form concerning the use of both the ideas of free will and determinism. Hume, an empirical philosopher, was one of the first to claim the concept of...