Does Free Will Exist?

Question

If all of our actions in the now are based on the prior, does it mean that existence precedes essence? What is your definition of free will.

My life or my soul...? Any decision I make is based on the prior, and the environment I partake in. Therefore, freewill is not deciding that for me, my experience in my existence is.

Answer 1

Yes, free will exists. Its the God that doesnt exist....

Answer 2

I don't think the idea of free will makes sense the way people usually talk about it. Do we have something called a will that acts without prior causes? Is there a part of us that operates independently of the physical laws that apply to everything else in the universe? I don't see how that's possible without invoking magic. However, I do think we have a certain kind of freedom. We are free agents operating within a deterministic system. We never break free of causality, but we do make choices. The more we expand our knowledge of ourselves and the universe we live in the more options we will have and the freer we will be. As far as whether existence precedes essence, I don't see how it could be any other way. But I've never been asked that so I'm not sure what else to say about it. It seems obvious to me that existence precedes essence, but that's not a convincing argument.

Answer 3

This is another one of those christianity paradoxes.

If a god is omniscient, they know the future. If they know the future, that means that fate is a set path. He cannot possibly be wrong - so there is no such thing as true free will, because every "choice" we think we are making is actually just following the predetermined path that he knows we are going to take.

Indeed, this paradox reaches even further - if God knows all, doesn't he know which path he is going to take? Am omniscient god is powerless to do anything other than what he already knows he is going to do. In this way it can be said that, if there is a god, he himself has no free will.

Even if he wasn't omniscient in the sense of knowing the future, as a "perfect being" he is still logically bound to perform the 'best' action in any given scenario. He has no choice because one option would ultimately not be as good as the other, therefore making his decision making process not 'perfect'. Once again, we must reach the conclusion that he has no true free will.

Ok, so perhaps he's not perfect and he's not omniscient. What then? Well, they still say he's "perfectly just". If someone is perfectly just, then they are always bound to perform the most just action. Again, no choice in the matter! The same thing applies to "all good".

If you need a specific quote for this, here's one:

"You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" [Psalm 139:16]

Answer 4

Some actions are based on past experience but some are spur of the moment judgments. I'm not sure anything can have an essence without existing. And free will is exactly what it sounds like. Free will is simply the ability to choose your path. Let me ask you a question. Would there be such a thing as good and evil without free will?

Answer 5

if our brains are electro chemical engines that MUST obey the laws of nature, without fail, then free will is an illusion. Our mind is our brain. Our choices are from our brain. Our brain is a machine that can only think what it thinks, to do otherwise would involve a miraculous side-stepping of the laws that govern chemical reactions. Since I don't believe that nature so generously steps aside inside our brains, I must believe that free will is just a false perception we have. If FEELS like we have free will, but we really don't.

Philosophically, one can also challenge free will. Let us forget about the brain and chemistry for a moment. What is it inside us that makes us choose to go right or go left? Surely there is something essential with in us that determines that choice. Thus free will is shown to be an illusion. We make our choices based on who we are, factors within us that we cannot conciously control. If the determining factor is out of our control, then free will is once again, merely a false impression.

Answer 6

As far as I can see, there is no such thing as free will. I base this on the trivial observation that you cannot choose what to think before you think it. Thoughts come into your mind unbidden, and you cannot choose what your next thought is going to be, because you would have to already be thinking of it in order to choose to think it, and that leads to an infinite regression.

Undoubtedly there is the influence of cause and effect - something happens to you, and you then think about it - and perhaps there is also a completely random element, but the same could be said of the weather, and we don't say that the weather therefore has free will.

So, if we cannot choose what to think, then we cannot choose what to do either, since our actions are (generally) guided by our thoughts (and any action that is *not* guided by our thoughts wouldn't be characterised as 'will' of any sort anyway).

Hence, as far as I can tell, free will does not exist.

Answer 7

Free will I suppose equates with freedom of choice. Complete freedom of choice is both impossible and undesirable. We are all born into innumerable prepotent systems (genetic, evolutionary, spiritual, religious, legal, governmental, political, linguistic, cultural, etc., etc., etc.). The list goes on and on. How can we ever hope to overcome all these and achieve freedom, even if we were born a tabula rasa which we are not. But let's for the sake of argument suppose we could achieve a completely free state of being. Would we in the end find this attractive or a curse? Let me share what Igor Stravinsky, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, had to say about this matter. In one of his essays on music he tells of sitting down at the piano to compose and initially experiencing a terrifying paralysis because of the infinite possibilities of musical expression open to him. Ultimately he found it possible to overcome this paralysis only by accepting some limitations in the form of musical style, harmony, melody, counterpoint, instrumentation, etc. In other words, he discovered that his only hope for any freedom lay in first relinquishing a good number of the infinite possibilities open to him. One might go so far as to say that Stravinsky's path to freedom was through enthrallment. Perhaps it is the same for us all.

Answer 8

Free will is the ability to rise above computability. However, since all things in the universe are computable, if probablistic in nature, there can be no free will.

That is not to say that humans don't make choices -- but computers make choices as well. They make choices based on the program that is running, we make choices based on the state we're in based on all our prior experiences and our current situation.

Answer 9

Free will means you can do what you like but there will a reaction Good or Bad for your actions. If you choose a wrong action you will have to receive the results. We are getting reactions from past actions called Karma. For example a baby being born blind or maimed or sick is just suffering some bad karma from its past life. So we are receiving Karma from our past life generally. If we are working to get rid of our karma through a process of purification then God will generally give us immediate reactions to help us learn the lessons. The quickest way to purify all karma from all lives is to chant the Maha Mantra (mantra for deliverance) Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Answer 10

Having the ability or discretion to choose. I think that being human we are endowed with an essence that has the ability to reason and chose what our existence will look like.

Answer 11

We have the ability to live free, but most people don't because they are too addicted to their emotions. Whether the emotions are good or bad, we become addicted to the chemical release that each emotion provides - to choose to break these addictions we have to experience the discomfort of withdrawal. Most people aren't up to the challenge, so they keep creating the same situations to get the same chemical response. People do seem to live in their past, but freedom is attainable, and a worthwhile pursuit.