Free Will vs Determinism


In reading some debates on free will vs determinism I noticed a reoccurring theme. These debates often end up meeting at some mid-point in which whether we are truly free or not is in a sort of grey area. Those that argue for free will claim that we make choices and since we could have chosen different that means we must be free. Determinist thinkers claim that this choice was limited by our genes, environment, and the actual options available to us. They argue that even though there are multiple options there is only ever one that we would pick because only one option would be in our best self-interest. The presence of choices we would never make doesn’t make us any freer than if we were just forced to do the best one without having an option, the end would be the same. It seems that we are essentially placed in a box by the limiting factors around us. We are presented with a finite number of available options and forced to choose. But how we move around in this metaphorical box is still up to us, even when the correct choice is obvious. So the question then becomes, do the choices we make inside this limited box count as being truly free?

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