Descartes And Spinoza On The Freedom Of Human Will

Many people have wondered if humans have the freedom of human will. Do we have the freedom of making our own decisions and judgements or is our will powerless and our actions and decisions are predetermined by prior causes? Well, there are two philosophers named Descartes and Spinoza that have had some disagreements about the human will and will give you their accounts about why their argument is stronger than the other. Descartes account of the will starts from the very nature of the will. The nature of will is given from God to give or withhold assent; to act on desires. When the will and the intellect, which contains ideas, come together, they make a judgement or decision. For example, when you see a nice cup of coffee, your intellect and will comes up with a judgement on whether or not you want to pick up and drink that coffee. But, sometimes there can be a problem with these judgements. When you are making those decisions, the will extends beyond the intellect. So, sometimes when we are making a judgement, our will overpowers our intellect and causes ourselves to make mistakes, our own mistakes. In Descartes’ Meditation Four, he goes more in depth by saying, â€Å"Because the will is indifferent in regard to such matters, it easily turns away from the true and the good; and in this way I am deceived and I sin.† This is what we call intellectual freedom, the freedom to make judgements. Descartes believes the will is free because since the will is from God and GodShow MoreRelatedEssay about Descartes vs. Spinoza1588 Words   |  7 PagesTerm Paper, Philosophy 1107 Aaron Davis Evaluation Comparison Between Descartes and Spinoza About The Paper: What I will do in this following paper is to discuss two very interesting philosophers, Rene Descartes and Benedictus de Spinoza. I will discuss each philosopher’s perspectives and insights on their most recognized theories and thoughts. I will then evaluate them and then give my opinion on the given topic. 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