What is your definition of free will? Do you believe it exists? I can tell you the answer from the knowledge I have gain in my studies, but what fun would it be to arrogantly answer my own question? Hah what the heck.
Anyway, free will exist in a differ context than what people know it to be. First of all, there is no one singular soul, I, or self that hits the execute button in our brains. A singular ‘self’ is actually an illusion the brain works hard to create; we are so much more complex than that.
One study actually found that the conscious is aware of a decision only after it has been made, half of a second later. Do some research and then answer my question. But I guess that much studying can't be done in one night into the mechanisms and processes of the human brain
Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will for some quick info if you like.
2006-10-27 13:29:27 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Our brain is enabled to weigh situations and make a final result or decision. Sometimes it fails to fully incorporate every detail or consequence which is why we make mistakes and sometimes get a brain fog. However, like I said, there is no I that consciously makes these decisions, they are based solely on the unconscious processes of the brain and it's interaction with other enviornmental and biological factors.
2006-10-27 13:42:19 · update #1
Whoever made up the term "free will" had a screw loose. There is no such thing as absolute free will, and qualifying the word 'will' with the word 'free' certainly implies that there is. Free will is an illusion that people cling to, in order to believe that they are in complete control of their lives.
2006-10-27 13:32:57 · answer #1 · answered by WHITE TRASH ARMENIAN 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
This is a question that has been debated for years. It holds many paradoxes therefore making it almost impossible to answer. The only real answer I can think of is that we don't know.
Yes I also read that once you are conscious of a decision, the brain had already made it about an 8th of a second before you were aware of it. So if I hooked an electrode to your brain, I could know what you were gonna do an 8th of a second before you. That's fascinating.
2006-10-27 17:39:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will exists only in the individual level. The group as a whole goes down a path of it's own regardless of the individuals' decisions.
People have put forth hypotheses relating to this idea - look up Lovelock's Gaia theory for one. There was another one relating to the deciding party being smaller than the individual and present in all of us.
2006-10-27 13:40:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The human brain having over 12 billion neurons, with each neuron capable of making about 5 thousand different connections, being so complex as to not be cloned as a duplicate, has to have free will simply because if the human brain was so easy to understand, we would be too simple to understand it.
2006-10-27 13:48:04 · answer #4 · answered by heyrobo 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I understand what your getting at but... while we may make many decisions based on how our brain is wired, free will manifests itself in our ability to change our minds about things. Being open to new ideas, and to the idea we may be wrong is a strong indicator of free will.
I would suggest that athiest have more free will that thiest due to the fact that we base our beliefs on evidence and are willing to change our minds given new data, unlike many others who refuse to even consider the information.
2006-10-27 13:31:58 · answer #5 · answered by trouthunter 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you saying that we don't make our own decisions? Regardless of when one section or another of gray matter becomes aware of it, we do make our own decisions. The guy next to me sure as hell didn't, and nobody forces me to decide things in a way I don't want to.
I am an atheist, by the way.
2006-10-27 13:52:48 · answer #6 · answered by TinyPuppyWuppy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, Free-Will is Real.
The Whole World is a Stage, and a Man (male or female) Plays many Parts.
With-out a Free-Will we would all be Dummies.
2006-10-27 13:36:43 · answer #7 · answered by maguyver727 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Does free will exist? Personally, I do feel free will does exist. My definition of free will is having the right to exercise to choose between being who you feel need, purpose, or reason to be, and having the right to exercise to choose between doing what you feel impacted or influened by God's Holy Spirit, or by doing what you feel someone else you allow yourself to feel so impacted or influenced by, to do something, or even in terms of directions, impacts or influences you to the direction of, and discerning if what you feel came to you by you looking deep within yourself, and deciding on your own gut/intuition, or if what you feel came to you once you began looking outward toward people you allow impact and/or influence concerning decisions you make in your life. That's my definition. Yes, I do believe free will exists.
2006-10-27 14:19:37 · answer #8 · answered by K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Having the ability to "choose" is free will; making choices in life.
2006-10-27 13:31:41 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will only exists when it falls into God's plan for your life.
2006-10-27 13:30:43 · answer #10 · answered by Ronin_21 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋