Grade:

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN DUBAI

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES

PHIL 201 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY/LOGIC

Journal Reflection Essay

By: Nicholas L. Mohammed

Submitted to: Dr. Sandra Alexander

11th December, 2014

Determinism
I have chosen to discuss determinism as presented by Baron dHolbach in the excerpt
Humans are Determined. In this course, this excerpt was one of the few texts that completely
changed my perspective on a philosophical concept. With the other concepts discussed in the
course, I learned new perspectives at looking at things, and some I agreed with, some I disagreed
with but they did not completely convert me as did Holbachs excerpt.
Before reading this text, I believed that everyone was free to do as they chose and that the
concept of fate was an illusion everyone is in control of their own future. I was introduced to the
concept of lives being determined before this course as well, but it was always in the context of a
higher being pulling the strings and that if something were to happen in your life, it was because
this higher being wanted it to be so. Since I did not believe in this concept of a higher being who
guides our actions, I quickly rejected this theory.
However, when I started reading it, I was amazed there was no mention of God. He speaks
of determinism in relation to mind/body duality, with the mind being a by-product of the body
(epiphenomenalism) which is also how I viewed the mind in relation to the body. For example, he
states: The willis a modification of the brain, by which it is disposed into action, or prepared
to give play to the organs. (Holbach, 2014). By counting the brain as the body and the will as
the mind, it is clear from this line that Holbachs perspective is epiphenomenalist.
Further in the text, Holbach discusses how man acts according to his impulses unless
another, more favourable impulse enters his mind. I understood this as man unconsciously
weighing out the options laid in front of him. Every action that man undergoes is due to some sort
of unconscious cost/benefit analysis. Even when weighing out options consciously, coming about
the choice is an unconscious action, with the brain making the choice based on which benefit

seemed more worthwhile. Again, in Holbachs text, he gives an example of a parched man. He
says that if a man is parched and needs water, he will want whatever water becomes available to
him. However, if he learns that the water is poisoned, then his choice will come to considering the
short-term benefits of drinking the poisoned water (he would have quenched his thirst but the man
may suffer a horrible death due to poison) and the long-term benefits of enduring without the water
(he will still be incredibly thirsty, but he can live long enough to find cleaner water sources)
(Holbach, 2014).
As much as Holbach believed in determinism, he agreed that society seems to need the idea
of free will in order to function. In the beginning of the text, he mentions that the idea of free will
is the foundation of law and religion since they both involve the act of rewarding and suffering
due to mans actions, as if man was in total control of his actions; but, Holbach makes it clear that
the idea of man as a free agent is absurd. He states that Choice Does Not Prove Freedom. Simply,
that means that because man appears to choose, his choosing is not due to free will but due to the
appearance of a motive which then influences his choice (Holbach, 2014). Without the presence
of this motive, whatever it may be, man would not have made this choice. For example, I may not
be considered free because I chose to have orange juice instead of usually having tea every
morning. There are many various factors which may have influenced my choice. A train of thought
that I may have had the night before could have brought up the idea of orange juice and I would
have realised that I miss the taste of orange juice. Another could be that I felt very lazy in the
morning and because of the motive to do as little work as possible for a drink, pouring some juice
into a glass seemed like the easier and better choice than boiling water and brewing tea. It is the
appearance of these motives (train of thought or lazy attitude) which influenced my choice.

After reading his text, I read another text relating determinism to psychology. From this
text, titled Free Will and Determinism in Pyschology, by Saul McLeod, a graduate teaching
assistant at the University of Manchester, the different schools of psychology were linked to
determinism and free will. Determinism is usually agreed upon by behaviouralists, such as B.F.
Skinner, who believed in environmental determinism that human behaviour is dictated by the
surroundings one is raised in (McLeod, 2013). For example, a person who grew up in a quiet,
tranquil household may have a tranquil personality because of their environment. However, there
is the case of persons behaving differently to the environment they were raised in. Other
psychologists state that this is biological determinism that human behaviour is innate. I believe
in a combination of these: behaviour is determined by a combination of our genetics and
environment.
In relation to determinism from a more philosophical standpoint, I read an excerpt from
Immanuel Kants The Critique of Pure Reason. In it, he makes the point that our actions come
about by reasoning through the empirical character of the human being, i.e., the causality for
action. However, reason in itself seems to be free, since nothing can be attributed to the cause of
reason (Kant, n.d.). This relates to the point I made before about humans reacting to a stimulus by
doing a cost/benefit analysis on the best way to act. However, nothing seems to determine reason
and reason cannot seem to be placed in a sequence of events in thought. Therefore, although human
beings are not free, their ability to reason is apparently free. This brings up a contrasting
perspective on the mind/body duality perspectives: interactionism (mind is affected by body by
environment, but the body is also affected by the mind through reasoning and action). I still believe
in the epiphenomenalist theory, but I do think I need to ponder more on this idea presented by
Kant.

Although we did not discuss determinism in this much detail in class, my class generally
disagreed with the concept of determinism. They leaned more towards the idea of humans having
the freedom to perform their actions with full responsibility. Many of their reasons for this
perspective had to do with the independence of human beings in thinking. Others took a more
religious approach by stating that God gave us the ability to act freely. I disagreed with their points
only because I thought it more logical for us to act in accordance to reason without actually being
conscious of our reasoning.
Outside of the classroom, thinking about determinism has made me more aware of how
important surroundings are to the behaviour of others. It made me more forgiving of the actions
and behaviours of certain persons because, when I understand their background, I cannot hold
them accountable for acting in a manner more pleasing to me. For example, in some of my classes
at AUD, raising my hand to ask or answer a question is useless because it seems to be common
practice to try to talk over each other to express an opinion. At first, I was annoyed by how rude
these students were in talking, without regard for what the teacher or anyone else had to say. Then
I understood that it is common practice here because of the culture. This may be how conversations
and discussions happen for students at home or with friends and I cannot judge them based on my
expectations. In reality, I cannot judge them at all, because there are many other factors responsible
for their behaviour that they had no control over.
In conclusion, reading on determinism has opened my mind to how human behaviour is
dictated. I would like to read up more on determinism in relation to human behaviour because
behaviourism is one of my favourite schools of psychology. I think that many people need to have
a behaviourist approach when considering the actions of other people, so that we can better
sympathize with those persons, after understanding different environmental and genetic factors

that may have influenced their behaviour. I also need to ponder more on Kants view on the mind
body duality problem and if reason, being free, makes the mind wholly independent of body or if
the freedom of reason can still occur while the mind is a by-product of the body.

References
Holbach, B. (2014). Humans Are Determined. In R. J. Mulvaney, Classic Philosophical Questions
(pp. 346-353). London, UK: Pearson Education Limited .
Kant, I. (n.d.). Immanuel Kant: For Determinism In a Way And Also Indeterminism, And For
Freedom Of Origination Being Consistent With Determinism . Retrieved December 10,
2014,
from
The
Determinism
&
Freedom
Philosophy
Website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwVariousKant.htm
McLeod, S. (2013). Freewill and Determinism in Psychology. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from
Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html