It seems to me that free will could only exist if we did things for no reason at all. But when do we do that. I think every behavior has a purpose, which rules out other behaviors as possibilities. I also think that nothing occurs without sufficient cause. I like to believe that I have a free will, but there doesn't seem to be any room for it in the rules of causation. Perhaps, free will just seems real because we don't have the capacity to understand all the sufficient causes of an occurence. Reading "The Problem of the Soul" by Owen Flanigan really got me thinking about this stuff. What do you think? Is free will just an illusion?
2006-09-03 23:15:35 · 6 answers · asked by Subconsciousless 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
When you make a decision you have made a choice. And the choice is of your own prerogative. Sounds like free will to me. When you are exposed to the minds of others you must remember that everyone has a different view of the same thing. It's a matter of interpretation. Free will is what you make it. It is not an illusion. If it were not for free will we would still be living in caves.
2006-09-03 23:31:04 · answer #1 · answered by dudezoid 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humans live in a world where so little is questioned. We wander through life, accepting ideas and beliefs only because we are raised upon them. So many concepts are ingrained in our brains that we have difficulty in deciding for ourselves what is fact and what is not. Once such concept is free will. Though some of us doubt many things, rarely does the common man closely examine his metaphysical makeup. This is why the myth of free will continues to flourish. Because of these reasons, one might ask how free will and choice could possibly be untrue illusions.
First, the question of what free will is, precisely, must be answered. The website, Answers.com, defines free will as “the ability or discretion to choose” that is, to make free choices that are “unconstrained by external circumstances… such as fate or divine will.” Since no one is preventing you from reading this paper, nor is anyone forcing you to read it, you must be reading this only because you made the choice to read it. Therefore, mustn’t free will exist if you are free to make a choice? No. Although there is no external force limiting your choice, there is certainly an internal one: yourself. Every person’s actions are the inevitable consequences of the beginning of the universe. For every cause, there is an effect. Humans, beings without infinite intellectual capacity, can predict exactly what a particle of matter will do based on the known laws of the universe. Humans are made up of elements and particles that can be found in the rest of the world, and are subject to these know laws of the universe. Free will results from human ego, and is used as tool to define humanity’s superiority over all other living things.
On a psychological level, you are limited by your personality. For example, a man named John walks down a street, so that he may get to work. On his way, he passes a homeless man, who asks for change. John’s “choice” to give him money or not to give him money is the result of the complete and combined experiences in John’s life. John’s action depended on the current organization of neurons in his brain that resulted from his environment, his interaction with his environment, and his experiences in life. Put simply, “my willing…is itself an effect of some cause to be found in experience” (Mattey). While John may have assumed that, in giving or not giving the homeless man change, he had made a choice and was therefore superior to all other living things, the fact of the matter is that his action was the inevitable outcome of every other action in the universe.
Still, one might argue that your personality only affects your choice, and does not control your choice. If one were to think about this more deeply, the answer would become quite apparent. If you make a choice that is not limited by any factors, would it not be completely random? Arthur Schopenhauer states that “every thing-in-being must be something, must have a definite nature. It cannot exist and yet be nothing, it cannot be something like the ens metaphysicum, that is, a thing which simply is and no more than is, without any definitions and properties, and consequently, without a definite way of acting which flows from them.” Free will cannot exist because of the existence of personality. If free will existed, choice would be random and there would be no variation between people.
Free will exists only as an invention of the human mind. We, beings without infinite intellectual capacity, cannot possibly predict precisely what will happen next because we cannot add up all of the causes and effects and come up with a comprehendible and complete picture. Therefore, we reason that the future cannot possibly be predetermined because we do not understand all circumstances that surround a singular “choice”. Truly, the future is not predetermined, however, there is only one possible outcome due to the nonexistence of randomness and the nonexistence of choice. We are bound to “fate”, although we define the “fate” ourselves.
In the end, what does this mean? If we are limited to our fates, then why do anything at all? The only advice that this writer can give is that we must continue to live our lives as normal. Our actions cannot change the future because our actions define the future. We must live in the pursuit of happiness, because, in spite of all metaphysical truths and maybes, joy is still a good feeling.
2006-09-05 01:29:24 · answer #2 · answered by Amy Parker 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you like to believe you have free will you are kidding yourself.
We are free to make choices according to our situation in life. No more no less.
2006-09-04 19:51:59 · answer #3 · answered by flugelberry 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that we have free will as long as we make decisions according to our own learning and goals, and not according to others' learning and goals.
Free will = the power to say "no".
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2006-09-04 07:42:22 · answer #4 · answered by Axel ∇ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i live life as it comes to me, and use what i learn to help open my mind, not be controlled by it. all you have to do is keep all viewpoints in mind and then see from experience what's the best.
2006-09-04 18:13:05 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are the things that your mother doesnt allow you to do.
2006-09-04 06:37:34 · answer #6 · answered by Deli Ozy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋