Soft DeterminismDo I have free will or is every action I take predetermined? This question has worried me for a long time. It has been the topic of many conversations at family dinners, a topic of research, and a question in many prayers. I believe this question concerns many people, as finding the answer has been the source of much literature, thought, and religion. After thinking for a long time, I came to the conclusion of Soft Determinism: the Principle of Universal Causality, according to which for everything that exists or happens there is a cause, it is true, but this principle is compatible with the Condition of Free Action. By free action condition I mean that a person is in control of his own actions (he is the source of them) and that person, at least in some circumstances, could have chosen to perform an action different from the one actually performed. Determinism itself seems almost obviously to be true. Can we really think of an action that doesn't have a cause? Or can we think of something that exists that doesn't come from something else? True, we cannot know the cause of every action, and so it may be wrong to exclude the possibility of a causeless action. But it certainly seems that all things are causally determined: we may simply not know the cause. This is the basis of determinist thinkers, from Paul Holbach to AJ Ayer: for every action there is a cause. Now let's move on to the problem of motivations. It could be argued that if a person performs a genuinely altruistic action, then that person is acting without self-interest, only wanting to perform the action, not wanting to perform the action for personal pleasure. This would almost seem like an example of an existence (desire) without reason or cause. But... middle of paper... choose and follow, without constraints, the right or wrong course of action. Now, Adam could have chosen not to eat the fruit, and if that were the case, I would not have used this example (and, I believe, neither would the Bible). To broaden the idea, if humans had never consciously made bad decisions, then the argument for freedom of action would be impossible to prove. However, I know I consciously made bad decisions. In doing so I exercised the negative aspect of freedom. I had reasons to take both actions and I also had a reason to make the wrong decision, but I chose. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that soft determinism - the compatibility between determinism and free action - is true. Works Cited: Feinberg, John. “God orders all things.” Predestination and free will. Eds. David and Randall Basinger. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1986.