Free will is one of the most controversial issues in the history of humanity; as such, human beings feel the need to act freely. In the pursuit of freedom, many theories have come up raging from Absolute Freedom, to Determinism and a more relative and realistic view of Freedom.
This paper seeks to present the case of a heroin addict who makes herself and the other people surrounding her suffer evaluating whether she is the one to be fully responsible for her actions or not. As such, in order to establish whether the addict is responsible for her deeds or not, one is going to investigate her motives, circumstances, and her state of mind, in general.
According to determinism theory, there is no responsibility whatsoever because all human activities get predetermined even before they think about them leaving no room to do otherwise. If we use this theory, the addict cannot be held responsible for the reason that it was determined that way before her birth meaning one day she would be an addict, and that she would harm others as well as herself by taking in drugs.
The second criterion is Absolute Freedom, which asserts that human beings are free to make choices and they are responsible for their decisions. This tread believes in free will; to choose or not to choose is a capacity that is within the moral agent. If we use this theory, the addict will fully be responsible for her actions because she is aware of the heroin effects but, nonetheless, she chooses to take it.
The third theory that is more relative asserts that human beings are responsible for some actions while for the others are not. They are responsible for those actions that have causes emanating from within such as desires, appetite, and motives.
On the other hand, there are those actions whose causes stem from outside such as culture, cults, and peer influence meaning there is no knowledge about the consequences of such a ‘habit”. According to this theory, the addict is responsible if at first she fully knew the effects of heroin but went on to take it. If this is the case, the addict is responsible for the harm she causes to herself and others around her.
On the other hand, if she had no knowledge of the effects of heroin when she began taking drugs, and even she is not aware of them currently, then she cannot be claimed fully accountable of her actions. For example, if this addict was born in a place where drugs are abused, and her conscience does not judge the effects as hazardous, then the society takes a full responsibility for introducing her to heroin.
If the addict takes heroin due to a mental problem, she cannot be held exposed too because she is not aware of her actions, and she does not have freedom of what she does at all. All her actions in this case are instinctual and responsibility cannot be claimed on her at all.
In conclusion, before judging any case as to whether one claims responsible or not, it is wise to establish the reasons first. This makes the work easier and the chances of getting the truth are very high. It is wise to take the method that is more realistic so that justice is done. Consequently, the above case needs a keen investigation because the addict is not the only factor involved but there are others as well.