Galen Strawson Considers Freedom of Will to Be Profanation Essay

Galen Strawson Considers Freedom of Will to Be Profanation - Essay Example I disagree with Strawson’s position and posit that humans can and should be held responsible for their actions because, as Strawson points out, even if the situation is such that you have a gun to your head, you still have a choice.   The unpleasantness of the choice does not nullify the presence of the choice or the fact that we always have the option to choose either the pleasant or more tolerable route over the unpleasant option and vice versa.According to Strawson’s analysis, humans lack the capacity to make free choices.   The influences of society, parents, friends, teachers, and all of the contributory factors that shape each of us into the unique individuals we are countermand our ability to freely make decisions.   Since we do not control who we are and who we determine the decisions we make, logic dictates that we are not engaging in free will because we did not have the power to shape who we are.   Additionally, Strawson states that, even if a person changes who they are, this does not mean they have free will because heredity and experience have already affected you in ways that you can never change.   The way a person is ultimately has a significant effect on how they are able to change and what attributes they are able to change, which causes the redundancy in the whole concept of change to facilitate free will.  Strawson begins by presenting the gamut of views concerning free will from the perspective of the Compatibilists and the Libertarian and No-Freedom Incompatibilists.   The philosophical view of the Compatibilist is that humans have free will and are morally responsible for their actions (Strawson, 1995).   According to Strawson, Compatibilists base their analysis of the condition of free will on the fact that it is compatible with the concept of determinism, which states that each action creates a pattern that makes subsequent actions or reactions unavoidable.This theory deems the determining factors that aff ect personality irrelevant and maintain that free will is absolute, despite the inclusion of determinism.   However, the presence of determinism in the Compatibilist view of free will actually nullify the viewpoint because how can you freely choose an option that has been predetermined?