Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Charles Cao
Mr. Ruiz
Honors English 10
1 November 2016
Fate. Free will. Since the beginning of society, people have reflected on how much
control they have over their lives. Fictional plays, scholarly articles, and religious texts all offer
differing views. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, asserts that people
can control how well they perform in their activities through practice. In “Is Free Will an
Illusion?,” an article in Scientific American, Shaun Nichols believes that free will does not exist
and people do not control their choices. Nichols offers a science-based and theory-based
argument while Gladwell supports his argument with analysis of one study and many opinions
from experts. Thus, Gladwell is able to appeal to an audience with ethos, logos, and even pathos.
Using expert opinions and one study comparing musicians, Gladwell asserts that the
amount of time spent practicing directly affects how someone performs. Explaining how
psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues “divided the school’s violinists into three
groups,” Gladwell introduces a relatable topic, credible experts, and supports the argument with
ethos and logos. Through his analysis of the study, Gladwell is able to convey that people can
work for something and that natural talent is not the major deciding factor in people’s lives.
Gladwell further establishes ethos when he states: “The music critic Harold Schonberg goes
further: Mozart, he argues, actually ‘developed late’” (Gladwell). The addition of a music critic’s
statement on a prodigy in the musical field greatly increases the validity of Gladwell’s claim.
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Music critics deal with music and not psychology; however, this statement strongly suggests that
practice was the reason Mozart was so successful in his life. Mozart controlled how much he
practiced in order to excel because his “greatest work [was produced only after] he had been
composing for more than twenty years” (Gladwell). Gladwell believes that Mozart took the
twenty years to practice and to improve, further supporting his argument that a significant
amount of practice is needed to succeed. Utilizing pathos, he also appeals to readers. Gladwell
claims that the idea that practice shapes your life “is true even of people we think of as
prodigies.” The addition of the fact that even famous prodigies had to practice to excel bolsters
Gladwell’s claim that all people have control their lives. An shocking claim that reveals that even
Nichols does not strongly support his view that free will is an illusion. With little expert
opinion and uncertainty on some topics, he presents an unconvincing argument. Nichols weakly
asserts that “psychologists widely agree that unconscious processes exert a powerful influence
over our choices.” However, Nichols only presents unconscious processes as significant and not
the major factor in our choices. His words must convey a definite position to strengthen his
claim. Nichols questions if “consciousness” is not different from “brain processes.” Nichols
strongly believes that the brain is the one controlling people and it is a result of reactions that
take place. Conversely, Gladwell quotes neurologist Daniel Levitin that practicing for long hours
changes the brain. Therefore, this quote proves that Gladwell has a stronger argument; the brain
does not control people’s lives, but people control how the brain is shaped. In his article’s
introduction, Nichols explains that “it seems obvious to me that I have free will.” Even though
his argument was against free will, his words have lessened the validity of his later arguments.
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Nichols even admits that “[w]e still do not know conclusively if our choices are determined.”
The overall tone of his article is inconclusive. His statements are based on conjectures from
neurologists with little real-life examples to prove them. Nichols continues to support his claim
with scientific guesses: “Scientists have postulated that consciousness is populations of neurons
firing in certain brain areas, no more or no less.” However, proven facts better support an
argument; guesses weaken the argument. People may be led to believe that the arguments
presented elsewhere in the essay earlier or later may could also be based on guesses and not hard
evidence. Therefore, readers may believe that opposing claims could be plausible. His diction
more logical evidence. Through experiments, both Gladwell and Nichols support their argument.
However, Nichols does not provide ethos by accrediting the study to a psychologist. Gladwell
claims that the “magic number for true expertise [is] ten thousand hours” (Gladwell). This
statistic signifies that the amount of time an individual is willing is spend on practicing a skill is
directly correlated to how well they perform, further strengthening his claim. On the other hand,
Nichols explains that participants of a study solved word puzzles with words that “were either
associated with rudeness or politeness,” and “those exposed to rudeness words were more likely
to interrupt the experimenter.” However, there are no definite statistics that provide solid
evidence to support Nichols’s claim that free will does not exist. Gladwell addresses an opposing
side that claims that innate talent and destiny controls people’s lives. “[T]here is such thing as
innate talent,” but psychologists’ research validates that preparation plays a bigger role than
innate talent (Gladwell). Gladwell weakens the counterargument that innate talent is more
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important than preparation, thus persuading readers to agree with his stance. Although Nichols
placed many counterarguments, his ambiguity on the topics diminish his overall argument. For
example, he explains that “our intuitions about free will, however, challenge this nihilistic view”
that we do not have control over our lives. Since, this statement implies that readers may support
Both authors differ on the topic of free will. Nichols supports the idea that free will is an
illusion and “a figment of imagination.” However, this statement is contradictory; people can
freely imagine something based on their own free will. Also, most people challenge the view that
choices are already determined; Nichols surveyed many people to conclude that “individual
choice is not determined.” Gladwell has a stronger argument because he clearly provides expert
opinion, analysis of experiments, and appealing topics. He claims that people have innate talent,
but their lives are determined by practice and the amount of work they put in. Therefore, they are