1.4 free will, determinism and predestination

Question 1

What are the religious views on free will?

Answer 1

• catchism of the catholic church asserts that “freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will” then goes on to say that God created man as a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his actions.
• in the fall, adam and even willfully chose to disobey god

Question 2

What are some non religious beliefs on why we dont have free will?

Answer 2

genetic, psycological and physical determinism

genetic determinism
-nature
- argue that how u behave in any given situation is determined by your character and if this is itself determined by your genes then we no longer have free will
- we act the way we do due to genes

psychological determinism
- nurture arguement
- you are who you sre becuase of how u are brought up
-children leanr through imitation, and are very receptive to new influences, as we get older we are still shaped by our environment but seem less impressonable by it.
- means the influences we experience when we are younger appear to have a greater impact in shaping our character
- character is determined by their upbringing not by their own free choice

physical determinism
- argue that the brain id just like a biological computer
-synapses in the brain fire in a certain say becuase they recieved a specific input
- thoughts and choices are directly caused by these processes and the sense of free will is just an illusion

Question 3

deacribe genetic determinism

Answer 3

Genetic determinism
- the nature arguement
- genes determine things like eye and hair colour.
- children often resemvle parents as they inherit certsin characteristics, they have no control over these physicsl characteristics
- possible to inhert certain character traits from parents such as adrenalin junkie, hot tempered and sarcastic
- genes have been linked to addiction obesity and criminal behaviour

• argue that how u behave in any given situation is determined by your character and if this is itself determined by your genes then we no longer have free will
• we act the way we do due to genes

Question 4

what are the implications of determinism

Answer 4

• obvious implications for crime and pubishment
• might give people ways to reduce likelihood of criminals reoffending
• if nurture created a law breaking perosnality, could rehabiliation remould them into a law abiding citizen?

Question 5

what is the theory of predestination?

Answer 5

made by a french protestant reformer john calvin who lived in 1509 two, 1564

• since the fall people have been inherently singul, noboday can be good enough to earn their way to heaven
  therefore salvation
• must ve an unmerited gift given by god
• god is free to give it to whoever he wants this gift

Elect
- the people god chose to give the gift of salvation before they are horm
- holy spirit would he more active in their loves which enable them to do good deeds
- good people are the elect doing good as god helps them

Reprobate
- those who are not given the gift of salvation and are in their naturally sinful state, therefore destined for hell
- would not have the holy spirit helping them so they would naturally give into their sinful nature
- have no choice but to do bad because it is human nature

Question 6

describe why christans reject john calvins theoru

Answer 6

it seems to make more laws, pointless and judgment pointless. It doesn’t seem to be fair. Why wouldn’t omniscient, loving God, create the reprobate at all there are many verses in the Bible, which imply people do have a genuine choice in how they behave.

Question 7

What are the problems with gods omniscience?

Answer 7

-God is truly young this year and that’s the future as well as the past in who knows what we do before we do it
- some say It is incoherent to maintain both that God is omniscient and thatHuman beings are free.

Question 8

what are possible reasons that god is sitll omniscient

Answer 8

• god knows all possible comes but not which one we chooses
• he knows the end result but not the means we used to get there
• God good now, but he chooses to limit his for knowledge in order to allow us genuine freedom. Analogous to sight, you can see , but still choose to shut off your eyes.
• God is transcendent therefore he does not see things before they happen. All time is present for God.