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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 8 page paper examines these philosophical concepts. How Buddhists view free will is at the crux of the exploration. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA914fre.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
things are determined or a result of karma. Yet, the free will problem is something that exists in a great deal of philosophic literature. In philosophy and religion, there are
often two models discussed in the area of will. One is free will or freedom and the other is determinism. That is, are events predetermined or are they the result
of decisions made by individuals? One model claims that everything is predetermined, or decided in advance. For example, a psychic predicts the future and it comes true, so people
claim that things are set in stone or predetermined. Of course, many clairvoyants claim that the future is not predetermined but instead there are simply tendencies that events are likely
to occur. That is, the individual who is given the reading can intervene and change the future prediction. Whether or not man has free will is subject to debate, but
there is a school of thought that is able to combine the two views that appear to be at odds. For Buddhists for example, there is the concept of karma
but there is also the notion of simultaneous cause and effect. Atmanspacher & Bishop (2002) examine the question in Buddhism and claim that one may see it as quasi-scientific determinism.
Yet, from a Western point of view, Buddhism is considered to be indeterministic (Atmanspacher & Bishop, 2002). In the west, determinism is thought to be incompatible with free will
(Atmanspacher & Bishop, 2002). That point is obvious. Those who teach philosophy in the west compare and contrast free will and determinism as if they were polar opposites. When it
comes to human free will, it is thought that choice enters the picture (Atmanspacher & Bishop, 2002). Spinoza is a good example of a theorist who believed in this notion
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