A Quick Overview About Free Will

Is there free will? I have done some research to get a good opinion before diving in to the material. I found that another question must be asked besides if free will exists. This is the question that determinism exists or not. Determinism is defined that all current and future events are necessitated by past events combined with the laws of nature. Through the years of human thought, we have progressed and grown swiftly in our understanding the human thought process. The knowledge gained in the scientific aspect of the physical brain is very important as to understanding the nature of human free will. At the start of metaphysical thought, we have no idea of the makeup of our brains or functions that it carried out. Since we did not know what we know now at that time, we had no other options of explanations as to why we acted or thought the way we do. We see now, in some circumstances, that free will is ruled out. For example, when a reflex muscle is struck, we react against our will. This is of course biological, but a restriction of free will nonetheless. Science defines and explain the things we do and why. In neurophilosophy and neuropsychology, we probe the physical spectrum. Neural networks, mirror neurons, functions and other such theories help us understand what is really happening. But the question here is if there is a free will. This free will is not controlled by a biological structure and enables us to do endless possibilities. A paradigm that helps me to differentiate and decipher the two is the dualism of mental and physical (mind vs. brain).

I think a great example of free will that is instilled in us today is simply asking questions and searching for truth. Most of my day that is not spent in class or eating is spent thinking about more than what I am eating for dinner. It is always very exciting to converse with others on philosophical topics, even the most basic. Hearing others ideas and enthusiastically expressing you own agenda is very fulfilling. To go deep and refute common ideas and form your own truths is human free will. Your imagination too is not only is limitless, but is not controlled by any boundaries or physical constraints. This means you are free to imagine anything, there are no rules or regulations necessary or are in question. The next question is of Moral Responsibility. Society shapes our morals and ethic responsibility. It would make sense that moral responsibly requires free will in order to work. If there is no human free will, is there a moral responsibility? Not only have philosophers tried to determine the construct of free will, but others such as physicists and biologists have tried their approach. I believe that without the support or belief of a human free will, there would be no structure for an ethical society.