Free Will

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Augustine's concept of "original sin" solidified in the Christianity doctrine the notion of the freedom of the human will, the human ability to choose freely good or evil in action unlike animals. The author points out that, in contrast to advocates of free will, Freud saw all human beings trapped in a determinist bond of the innate drives of sexuality. The paper concludes that, although human beings are not totally free to chose, Karl Marx' stress, upon the ability to change external realities rather than to be dependant upon internal states, balances between the philosophies of free will and determinism.

From the Paper:

"Jean Paul Sartre also argued for a radical freedom of the will, but argued that this freedom was often awful, rather than awe inspiring, good or bad. Sartre's notion of the will's freedom was derived from atheism, of human being's aloneness in the world. Humans were forced to define their own morality rather than having it defined for them by nature or pure need. "The doctor would like to believe, he would like to hide out the stark reality: that he is alone, without gain, without a past, with an intelligence which is clouded, a body which is disintegrating."

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