Published Paper Details:

'Causality' and 'freedom' are central to discussions in Philosophy of action. Causality and freedom have been addressed from ontological as well as ethical perspectives. Ontologically, causality refers to the dynamics of changes signifying the way there is continual success of cause and effect. Needless to say that cause and effect are relative terms .That which is a cause in relation to the effect can be seen as the effect in relation to its antecedent which is the cause. The relationship between cause and effect is one of necessity such that given the cause effect can be predicted in advance and given the effect the cause can be inferred retrospectively. Causal necessity lives no room for human freedom, Therefore moral judgments cannot be passed on the causal process in the state of nature. 'Freedom' on the other hand is a moral concept. Freedom of will makes sense only in human domain, because human beings are endowed with autonomy of will. Given the circumstances, different individual are free to act differently. Causality and freedom do not go hand in hand. State of nature is understood and explained in terms of causal laws whereas it is the freedom of will which defines the distinctiveness of human action. The distinction between action and event is fundamental. Event is causally determined whereas action is determined by free will. In other words an event is caused whereas action is willed. Morality makes sense only in the domain of human actions, because human agents hare autonomy of will. The 'will' can be used and abused as well on account of which the moral judgments are rendered meaningful. The dissertation is an exercise to a undertake analysis of the notion of 'causality' and 'freedom' in Buddhist Philosophy.