Free Will - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This means psychological theories often contradict one another and are still accepted by psychologists while applying to various approaches, and despite giving a solution, are subjected to our mental reconcilement. Now, to what extent it has affected, we would discuss in this essay in the light of various psychological perspectives.
If we talk about general psychology, we would see that psychology itself upholds combination of variety of approaches, theories and traditions. For example if we perceive psychology as a science, it would present us with a variety of covering three different scientific territories. First territory is that of social science that tells us how the human psyche is grounded in the social surroundings of language, norms and identity. The second territory associates psychology with natural sciences which analyses how psyche is related to neurophysics and biology while the third territory determines how psyche is extended into the domains of humanity with cultural traditions (Bertelsen, 2003, p. 24).
Looking at free will from the perspective of an individuated high-level psyche, would allow us to consider the notion that free will cannot be achieved until and unless driven by some internal or external compulsion. For example a man who commits robbery is subjected to the threat of being caught and punished from the legal and judicial point of view, whereas morally he is also subjected to a misdeed. That means he is responsible for the crime he has committed which otherwise he had not been. This indicates he possessed free will as long as he disobeyed law and order. In order to follow or believe the significance of free will it is necessary to be free from external or internal compulsion, which indicates being free from psychological concerns and motives. Whether we are pessimistic or optimistic, psychology has made us highly restrictive about the types of action that can be directly free, the contexts in which directly free actions can be performed, and the frequency with which we might act with direct freedom.
According to Pereboom (2001) "We choose according to various physical events that goes on in the brain, and these events are governed by physical laws" (Pereboom, 2001, p. 38). Therefore psychology administers those laws that escort us, thereby depriving us of free will.
To what extent free will is compatible with Psychology
Free-will is often contrasted with determinism where classical determinism suggests that whatever happens in any situation is due to the laws pertaining to that situation. Determinism versus free-will allows three different positions:
1) Psychology and free will are not compatible for the reason that scientific explanations are based upon determinism principles.
2) Psychology and free will are not compatible but since free will belongs to the unproven part of the scientific explanation, it is called 'libertarianism'.
3) Psychology is compatible with free will and can be scientifically justified.
Believing in free will through analysing Libertarianism
Since libertarianism does not allow psychology to be compared with free will, it denies psychology. Therefore it is this part that we analyse how psychology erodes free will. While making decisions, we are often bound ...Download file to see next pagesRead More