If everything is predetermined are we really choosing by our own free will?

Answer 1

You've posed a fascinating question, and one I have been interested in for more than 20 years.

I have read philospohy theories, taken college coursework, and read just about everything I can get my hands on, and I can definitively say this--

No One Truly Knows.

Lots of people say they do, but if there is no such thing as free will, then they are merely "programmed" to think that way.

Lots of our responses to life events are learned or conditioned responses learned from early childhood. Any behavior that is "reactionary" in nature can be argued as "predetermined" in a sense. How many people do you see making the same mistakes over and over? Could this be an example of "faulty" programming?

If you imagine the Universe as a billiard table, and imagine suddenly setting all the balls in motion, you can see they follow predictable paths. Every collsion and change of direction results from the initial conditions when the balls went into motion.

Now picture the atoms and molecules of the Universe. They seem to bump into each other at random, but isn't their behavior more like the billiard balls?

Now think about people. If all the atoms in our bodies are following "preset" paths, like the pre-set billiard table, then how can we imagine we are "free" ? Maybe all of us are perceiving the same illusion of will.

Two concepts might provide a mechanism for the existence of free will. They are quantum mechanics, a theory that holds that we can't predict"everything" about atoms and molecules--that certain aspects chenage according to our measurements. This would allow for our "billiard balls" to get away with a little random activity.

The other is chaos theory, which states that a system that is complex enough isnot predictable and might as well be random. (its why we still can't predict the weather right...)

In light of these theories, I come down in the 'pro' free will column.

Sorry this answer is so long. Its a long concept

Answer 2

Well, see it as a combination of predetermination and free will. For example, and just for example, I am genetically predetermined to have a high chance to die from a heart attack, but that doesn't mean I'll die from that; I eat healthy and exercises, my heart is in good shape. So can't life be like a combination of both, too: free will and predetermined probabilities?
I believe everything is predetermined in terms of probabilities and not exact, precise events. So, events that are predetermined to have a high probability to happen are hard to stop or change, but there must always be at least a fraction of chance against it. If what I believe is true, then how can we use our own free will to have the maximum impact in life?
Researchers use probability to predict accidents in the workplace, and they have found out that they best way to have a significant reduction of accidents (to change the prediction, the future) is to know why they happen, and why are we doing what we do to prevent them.
So we can do whatever we want, and some of us will have succeed in life and some of us will fail, but think, are we here because it was predetermined or because we understood what happened (we have answers to the why) and created our own life?
"Life is like a river, we can let the stream take us, or we can learn to swim."

Answer 3

I've always compared this to a fork in the road. You can go to the left or the right and continue your journey.
The choice of which road you travel is yours, but the results of your choice are predetermined.

Answer 4

We have a will. That will makes choices. Every choice we make has a consequence. We know from experience that there are good consequences and there are bad consequences. So, we easily see that good choices produce good consequences and bad choices produce bad consequences. Societies have laws and punishments to influence us to make good choices. Those who choose badly are punished. People go to jail or are put to death. So our choices are influenced, and often heavily, but we still have the freedom to make the choice we choose. Whatever we choose, we produce actions. Those actions are either good or bad. We are responsible. There are influences to choose the wrong too. We are inundated by influences. One of the biggest influences today is sex. Depending on how we choose, we determine the quality of the consequences. That is, our choices determine the quality of our lives. If we choose healthy food, the consequence is vitality. If we choose junk food, the consequences are getting fat, feeling weak, having health issues.
If we choose to have indiscriminate sex, the consequences are babies, STD's, hurt, pain. If we make a lot of good choices the quality of our lives is better. If we make a lot of bad choices the quality of our life suffers. Ultimately, despite influences, we are responsible for the choices we make. That is why we are judged by the courts of our societies, and why we will be judged when we die. God says choose right. We choose bad. We choose bad because punishment is not swift and we think we can get away with it. Ultimately bad guys get arrested. Drug kings finally get put away one way or the other. So to us. Ultimately we will have to pay for our choices. Our gut instincts tell us this. When a pervert commits a heinous crime against an innocent, we want the punishment to be horrendous because he made that awful choice to maim and kill. Our hearts cry out for justice. So there are consequences for choices, both good and bad. Those too are influences, but nothing can make you choose either good or bad. That is your good, or that is your bad.

Answer 5

Who determines if everything is predetermined ? Your right , if our fate is already decided than there is no free will..... I don't believe that is true, I think we choose our own path...

Answer 6

It is only predetermined by the decisions you make about what you want and how you want to live your life.

Answer 7

Nothing is predetermined,go out and live a good life. You could get hit by car tomorrow.

Answer 8

Everything is predictable, but not predetermined (there is no plan).

So things COULD be worked out in advance, BUT they haven't been.

We also have freewill, it feels like it, doesn't it?

Two contradictory things can therefore be true.

Answer 9

If you think that God ( or what ever else is making the decisions for you) has nothing better to do than plan everything around you, you are not a determinist, you are an egotist. Even using Quantum Mechanics, some events are just too random to account for.

Answer 10

We still have a choice, we can still chose what to do, even though people say that we no longer have a choice. Choice and choosing what to do and what way to fallow even though we know we were brought to a certain point where everything seems predestined, it's like choosing whether to do what's right or wrong.