The purpose of this paper is to examine the philosophical and psychological arguments regarding free will and determinism. The paper begins with an examination of the general philosophical perspectives. This is followed by a discussion of the implications and applications of these differing perspectives to the field of psychology. The final section of the paper presents a brief evaluation of the debate in general and as it relates to psychology in particular.
Philosophical Notions of Determinism and Free Will
As a philosophical doctrine, determinism can be defined as the conceptual proposition that every event, mental and physical, has a cause, and the cause being given, the event invariably follows (Berofsky, 1971). In other words, the cause "determines" the nature of what will happen.
With respect to human behavior, the core of determinism is the notion that all human action is caused entirely by preceding events, and not by the exercise of the will (Honderick, 1993). On the other hand, the philosophical doctrine of Free Will posits the power or ability of the human mind to choose a course of action or make a decision independent of other influences, such as heredity, environment, or divine predetermination (Kane, 1996).
Several views of free will have been developed by philosophers, metaphysicians and theologians (Felt, 1994). Some metaphysicians and theologians propose that a rational universe must be based on a sequence of cause and effect: Every action, or effect, must be preceded by a cause and forms a part of the unbroken chain of causation extending back to the First Cause, that is, God, or the Divine; thus, they hold that an act of absolute free will, an uncaused act outside the causal chain, makes the universe seem irrational (Double, 1991).
An example of this type of theological view can be found in the new age book, "A Course in Miracles" published by the Foundation for Inner Peace (1992). In ...