nvironment. I grew up in a household where I was taught that I was and will always be free. I also never had any religious affiliation within my first 8 years of schooling, which might have influenced me to think differently. The illustration of a gun to ones head is also rooted within the environment of others as well as my own. We can assume that the majority of people would want to live in that situation and therefore follow what is being asked of them. Now is that there free will? I don’t think so. The fact that they choose to live is based on their enjoyment of life and there lessons that they have been taught by their upbringing, this is their environment. The same would be true on an extreme end. Somebody may make the decision to not obey and sacrifice his or her life because of extreme misery and discontent. Furthermore, the reason for the unhappiness may be a result of heredity. The victim’s mother could have used drugs, or something similar that which had an effect on her child. God plays an interesting role in this explanation of free will. Presently, after having about 7 years of religious education I feel like I am educated enough to speak of God. I believe that people can be affected by God within there decision making and often have God make the choice for them. For example, the choice to remain celibate until marriage, that is God’s wishes and therefore in a sense he is making the decision. For me, no matter how free people think they are because of their belief in God, the religious affiliation that people have is rooted within their environment, and thus cannot be considered free will. W. T. Stace can exemplify another example of why I believe I do not have free will, in the essay “The problem of Free Will”. Stace argues that the “problem of free will” is the misunderstanding of the correct definition of the term, and once the correct definition is found then p...
