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Determinism And Free Will In John Locke's Philosophy

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Determinism And Free Will In John Locke's Philosophy
1) John Locke’s beliefs stem from the fact that neither body nor the soul are key identifiers of personal identity and survival. Locke says that the body can not be explained through time as the body is always changing. Scientifically the cells of our bodies change completely every eight years thus our body is not the same body from eight years ago. Locke believes that consciousness stems from memory and being recognized from the same person is what makes you. Thomas Reid on the other hand believes memory is proof that we have existed but it is what makes you. Reid says that we are simply things that exists through time and having no memory of events does not mean you didn't exist.

2) Derek Parfit’s philosophical outlook on life begins with that there is no you as identity is not
…show more content…
Free will is an act that is free if the agent could of done otherwise but according to determinism the agent could not have done otherwise as there is only one predetermined future. The problem of free will is the major complaint of determinism as if there is no free will than any type of punishment would be morally wrong because the criminal did not choose to commit the crime as the universe has already chosen for them. Compatibilism offers a viewpoint that believes in both determinism and free will. The basis of this thinking is that if you do something you wanted to do then you must of made some choice because you wouldn't do it if you didn't want to. The drawback of compatibilism is that you generally don't choose why you want something, your personality is simply you and predetermined.Finally there's libertarianism which disregards determinism as false and believes in quantum indeterminacy which generally means what we do is random. Philosophers seem to say that simply something being random doesnt mean its free will thus there must be something

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