Do a quick first reading of the assigned materials in this module and respond to the following questions in this discussion. You’ll find that participating in the discussion will prompt you to go back and reread portions or all of the readings. Philosophy requires reading for understanding, often necessitating reading a passage more than once and thinking about it.

You must make your first post before you’ll be able to see and respond to those of your classmates.

Question:

The topic in this chapter, Freedom and Determinism, has been at least implied in our previous explorations. Underlying our resolution of this problem are our positions on Epistemology and Metaphysics. Your position on this problem will determine your position in Ethics (including Political Philosophy), which we will explore more fully subsequently. Consider the reading in this module in your discussion. Answer these questions:
1. Are your actions due to your free will or are they predetermined? Lay out your arguments for your position. Use the material you’ve studied thus far in this course to support your arguments. Is your position closest to causal determinism, hard determinism, soft determinism (compatibilism), or indeterminism?
2. Give your conclusion to the first question. What ethical responsibilities do you have? Support your conclusions.
3. What does your position imply in regards to your responsibilities to local and global societies?

If you refer to information from the text, identify the location in parenthesis (MLA Intext Citation). In your replies, either support your fellow student’s answers or kindly refute them. Analyze reasoning, pointing out strong or weak premises or reasons as well as fallacies.  Philosophy is built upon successful written and spoken communication.