Do You Need Free Will?

Specifically, do you need free will to experience personal development? Do you need free will to be better today than you were yesterday? Do you need free will to realize your full potential?

These questions are quite puzzling aren’t they? Because it would seem that the kind of personal development necessary to realize your full potential requires a belief in free will — a belief that you have some control over your thoughts and actions.

Yet, fate and luck seem to play an important part in your personal development as well — the chance meetings and coincidences that open up opportunities you never saw coming. And, if you believe in fate and luck, can you also believe in free will?

I’m throwing some tough questions at you because these are important things to consider if you want to live the fulfilling life you were meant to live. But first, you’ll need a basic understanding of 3 philosophical views around the topic of free will.

Keep scrolling for a brief overview of these 3 views.

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3 Philosophical Views
on Free Will

Determinism – A determinist’s view is that every single thing that happens in our lives is simply a result of cause and effect. There is no free will.
Libertarianism – A libertarian’s view is that, although cause and effect certainly exists in the physical world, it does not govern the world of human actions because we have free will.
Compatibilism – A compatibilist’s view is that there’s a happy medium between determinism and libertarianism — the two states of being can exist simultaneously. Compatibilists balance these extreme views by introducing the concept that not all actions are created equal.

Want to learn more about these philosophies and whether or not I believe that you need to pick one to follow? Then be sure to check out the full-length essay post that inspired this one: Do You Have Control of Your Life?

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SCREENSHOT TIME!

Take a screenshot to easily access this summary of the 3 philosophical views of free will:

Determinism – No free will; just cause and effect.
Libertarianism – We have free will; cause and effect exist only in the physical world.
Compatibilism – Free will and cause and effect can exist simultaneously because not all actions are created equal.

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