Of Man's Free Agency Analysis

Of Man's Free Agency written by Baron d'Holbach argued that we do not have free will. D'Holbach believes the man himself is not a free agent and the control of his actions is an illusion. The first examples D'Holbach presents determining the nonexistence of free will is a man is born without his consent, his ideas come to him involuntarily, his habits form from who raises and surrounds him, and his actions are modified by causes. The argument presented here is a man has no choice in the matter of coming into this world, he is raised with certain mannerisms from those who reared him as child. Society conditions and conforms man before they even have a choice of who they are entirely as a person. Thoughts are planted into one's mind that form …show more content…
Two different causations of motives are shown here. Two different outcomes are presented in this scenario, to drink the water and die or continue on with the desperate need of water. The man believes he has free will by his ability to make a choice. The action the man will take is the one he has the strongest urge or desire for. D'Holbach argues that this does that present a man is free agent, two different motives are presented, and a man determines his choice based upon the strongest desire that annihilates his first desire. When two separate motives are present, a man must deliberate. D'Holbach defines "To deliberate, is to hate and to love in succession; it is to be alternately attracted and repelled; it is to be moved, sometimes by one motive, sometimes by another." (D'Holbach:68) When a man cannot make a decision, he can't understand the differences between choices quite yet. He must understand the quality of each object and which influences him more. D'Holbach also states that choice does not prove that man has free will. He goes into deeper detail by saying a choice will always be determined by an outer motive not an entirely a decision of one's own free will. The outer motives are reasons he is making decisions, not himself. If free will was present, a choice would be able to be made …show more content…
D'Holbach argues that no that would not prove a man's free agency even if he did jump through the window it would only prove that he had violent temperament, or he was in fact a mad man. A motive within the man that cannot be explained caused his desire to jump to prove he was free agent. A man's thoughts are not controlled by the man himself. His temperament caused his desires to prove a point. Madness according to D'Holbach is heat of blood not the will. Processing ones' thoughts and figuring out where each thought came from is impossible. It is challenging to determine where our desires come from. Our brains are so complicated, it presents the idea of free will but in reality our ulterior motives cannot be