The Obviousness of the Truth of Determinism

David Hume makes an argument for the truth of Determinism in this article. His first main reason he gives for the truth of determinism is because of history. “Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history intorms us of nothing new or strange in this particular” (Hume). Determinism is the doctrine that all actions and events are the result of a force external to the will. Hume uses history as proof that we do not have control of our actions and their results. History has shown to be repetitive and as we have progressed have remained similar. We continue to repeat the same mistakes in regards to war, pollution, and general human relations. Hume also makes note that humans each have their own personalities and are unique but in a way that is uniform. He states “from observing the variety of conduct in different men, we are enabled to form a greater variety of maxims, which still suppose a degree of uniformity and regularity”(Hume). I believe Hume is finding the uniformity in our own personal traits. A person can be generally peppy, but then have an “off-day” and suddenly everyone notices. This is because this action is outside of the norm or the uniformity of our lives. We take notice of the changed behavior and may even be surprised, but do not believe the situation to not be happening, because we can understand the complexity of the human body and irregularities “can be no proof that the laws of nature are not observed with the greatest regularity in its internal onerations and government.”(Hume).

 Do you think one of the consequences of the argument against free will is that we are not responsible for our actions?

This is an incredibly difficult question for me to answer. Every time I come up with answer, I come up with a contradiction. I will say, with completely uncertainty, that I think one of the consequences of the argument against free will is that we are nit responsible for our actions. I think this because determinism is the school of thought where events happen external to our own will. If the event or action is not of your own volition then how can one be responsible for an action they did not take. For example, if a friend commits fraud and uses your name, you are not responsible for the action because you played no part in the crime, even though it was done under your name.

Would you feel any differently about your life in general—and your actions, thoughts, and feelings, in particular—if determinism were true?

I would not feel any different about life if determinism were true. This is a difficult subject for me to compose an exact belief on the topic, but my personal belief is that we have a small degree of free will, but we are mostly driven by our chemical properties and instincts. So if determinism were to be true then there would not be a large change in beliefs. Aside from this, my attitude towards life would not change, because I have no control over it. I can’t give my life free will and I have gotten this far without caring if I have free will or not, so why should it change now? (553 words).