What is the difference between determinism and the limits on freedom imposed by internal and/or external constraints?

Be sure to support your argument with primary material from the text.

Will We Ever?

How free is the human race? We are complex creatures that question and test everything in existence. Why is the sky blue? Why is college so expensive? What is the cause of human behavior and why do we act the way we do? Determinism argues that human nature, environmental factors, psychological factors, and social dynamics are the explanations behind humans and our behavior. One may believe in free will, but in reality our choices are influenced by physical, psychological, or social constraints. There is no difference between determinism and the lack of freedom brought on by these constraints.

Determinism has human nature as one explanation for human behavior. The nature vs. nurture debate is a highly controversial and still a topic of interest in todays psychological field of study. Nature is strong and pitiless, says Clarence Darrow. She works in her own mysterious ways and we are her victims. (Chaffee, 2011). Humans that are plagued by psychological aliments do and say things beyond their control. A patient with schizophrenia has no control over the high level of dopamine traveling through their brain. If a patient with schizophrenia goes untreated they are in fact a victim of the hallucinations and delusions the mental ailment schizophrenia comes with. As a contrast for determinisms view of human nature a patient can in fact choose to take medication or see a doctor as to not become a victim of their mental ailment. Medicine and therapy exists so humans can in fact be less burdened by their psychological constraints. Now for a closer look at reality. How many people are in fact being treated for mental disorders? How many people are still living day to day untreated, undiagnosed of their psychological constraints? How much of their behavior is determined by these often unnoticed psychological constraints? There is no difference between determinism and the limit of freedom brought on by this internal constraint.

Determinism says that ones environment can also be an explanation of human behavior. Children are often described as being a product of their environment. A child that has been brought up in a highly competitive, rough housing home will probably get in trouble at school. Why? School is an institution that values a students safety and personal space. The child didnt choose to be raised in that type of environment. The childs behavior will reflect the environment he grew up in, until he learns that different environments require different behaviors. On the side of free will, the child who grew up in a competitive, loud, rough housing home will eventually learn that he cant behave that way at school. School is a different environment. He may choose to behave in a mellow manner at school then he does at home, but at what cost? It may have been a choice, but it was a choice influence by an external constraint of environment. Adults are even better examples for being influenced by environmental constraints. Adults behave one way when they are at work, another way when they are at home, and a whole different way when they are around friends. How often are we aware if these behavior changes, and do we even know that the

environment we are in causes these changes? There is no difference between determinism and the limit of freedom brought on by this external constraint. So how free is the human race? From the elderly person in a wheelchair to a young girl raised in a wealthy family; are any of our decisions really free from constraints beyond our control? We all make choices everyday because are aware of the consequences of making a different choice that is against societal norms. Until the time, effort, and money is but into reliving the human race of our internal and external constraints; we will never be free.

C h a f f e e , J . (2 0 1 1 ) . Th e p hi lo s op h er ' s wa y . (3 ed ., p . 1 4 5 ) . N ew Y or k :