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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Blog 6: Free will and determinism

      When people hear the words "free will" people often think of the word choice and the ability to change fate for better or worse. People who believe in free will usually go against the idea that everything that happens is meant to happen that way and inevitability isn't an option.Free will means that anything is possible and you have controll and power over your own fate. People who believe in determinism believe that everything happens due to the nature of law and nothing can sway it.
       In the movie"The Minority Report" a system  Known as pre-crime is created to stop future criminals from committing crimes before they comit them. the potential criminal is caught just at the right time before the crime is committed.In the movie it is argued that this system violates human rights has none of the captured people have actually committed the crimes they were said to commit.Free will plays in important role in this argument as the in the movie some people argued that nothing is inevitable until it happens as none of the captured people committed crimes. In the end the idea of free will triumphs as it gets proven that people do have a choice with their actions leading to the downfall of the pre-crime system.
       In the play "Oedipus the king" a man named Oedipus hears of his terrible fate to kill his father and sleep with his mother at Delphi by the gods. Oedipus attempts to escape his fate by running away from home and finds himself in the city of Thebes. On his way there he unknowingly confronts the king of Thebes, his father. Oedipus kills the king and his men out of rage due to an argument that took place between them. After being crowned the new king he meets a woman named Jocasta, his mother. He then marries her and has children with her as well. Oedipus denied what the gods told him yet still ended up following his destiny anyway. This is an example of determinism as in the play Oedipus's fate appeared as inevitable.
             Free will is believed to be the ability to change the outcome of the situation.Free will can gives people the abiltiy to decide their own fates through their actions.Determinism is the opposite of free will and means that the inevitable must and will happen. In the movie "The Minority Report" Freewill was the main point and even though something is predicted it doesn't have to happen. In the play "Oedipus the king" Oedipus's fate was undodgeable and ment to happen as his prophosey was fortold him by the gods and even though he did all in his power to dodge fate he ended up playing in the hands of it. 

1 comment:

  1. Douglas, you will need to have specific textual references, both for the article and the play. The play section, especially, reads like a very general summary as is.

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