does free will exsist?

Answer 1

yes, i think it does,,,, look around you at all the different types of people,, and the choices they make,,,, if we didnt have free will,,,, wouldnt two people in the same environment (perhaps upbringing) be more similar? while as mentioned, the choices we make may take us down a certain path,,,,,,, even how we respond to the events on that path is our choice

Answer 2

No. The appearance or impression of free will comes from our (human?) ability to consider the future. When we imagine our best choice of future action, we get the impression that we have "free will" to choose "any" path. In fact, we can never choose but one of those paths - ever. And consider this: once you make a choice and act on it - all the other options disappear. The free will choices only exist as possibilities - never certainties. There is only one certainty and that is that we can only ever travel one path.

However, our experience and judgment along with the input having to do with motivating each of us, in particular, in a certain direction (complex, but deterministic) moves us along that path and is (often) consciously derived. True "free will" necessitates our ability to (actually) be able to change past decisions. We can't do that.

Our (human?) ability to imagine multiple futures is the mental feature that causes us to debate the existence of "free will".

Also, and very important, there is the fact that God, as formulated by many major religions, requires each of us to have "free will". Otherwise, God could "control us" and really make the world a perfect place. Supposedly, God gave us free will so we could appreciate him/her/it and then choose to obey him/her/it because we "learn" that's the best way (as opposed to being told?). Well, we don't actually have free will, but there also is no God who is (or isn't) able to control us either.

Since religious theologians have had control over the content and direction of philosophy for so long, the "myth" of free will continues. While, all along the actual mechanism is our simple ability to picture (imagine) possible future alternatives. It's really just a very handy tool for day to day survival.

Answer 3

Maybe yes, but no:

Yes: A person is not forced to do anything he does. God does not force his way. Hence, he can do whatever he wants, within the obvious realm of human physical capability.

No: Each person will do _something_ in the future, and no matter what, that 'something' cannot be changed, or else it never would have been that 'something' in the first place. "Choosing" merely continues your path through life, the path that you were and are definitely going to choose. For example:

Suppose you are standing in the street, about to be hit by a bus. Your future appears to be impending death. However, somebody pushes you out of the way and saves you. You have not avoided your future; rather, your future never was to die then: it was always to be saved from dying then.

So there is technically no free will, for your life will be a series of events, and your "choices" merely show what those events are.

Answer 4

to answer this question we must first define what a human is properly .. no one has done this in their answer yet.

a human is an extremely complex mixture of matter.

fundementally we are no different than a firecracker blowing up or any other chemical/physical reaction.. just way more complex.. but the complexity is irrelevant.

so its that simple.. we arent "special matter" lol.. we react according to the laws of nature because everything we are composed of reacts according to the laws of nature.
why do you think psychoactive drugs work? change the brain, and you change "you" .. THERE IS NOTHING NONPHYSICAL IN A HUMAN.

there is no way around this unless you believe in ghosts or gods, immaterial souls etc.. in which case anything goes and forget actually looking at the world around us and thinking.

all evidence humans have found so far points to the human mind as being the human brain... and the brain being made of matter, there cannot be free will. so if your interested in looking at all the data humans have amassed thusfar that is what seems obvious.
if someone thinks anything else.. its not based on ANY observable evidence and they are way off in left field.

1.Mind is a charicteristic of the organizational state of the matter that constitutes the brain.

2.Matter in this particular organizational state is of course subject to the laws of causality, as is all matter.

3.Thoughts, i.e. physical interactions, are governed in a deterministic manner by all matter and qualities of that matter that have direct contact with it.

you are matter.. it is obvious that the "mind", or "self" is the brain... they arent related.. they are in fact different names for the same thing. your brain is no exception or special kind of matter that does not obey the laws geverning the interaction of matter.

therefore... you.. just like everything else, react according to laws.. aka react exactly how you have to and think exactly how you have to... because thoughts are physical events in the brain.

this is obvious.... it is also obvious that we would not have gotten this far as organisms if we did not have this illusion... and so that is why we have it, because any organism that did not have the illusion of having a self... of having some sort of personal identity, did not work and is therefore not here.

the foundation of the illusion of free will is that of the illusion of having a self.... of being seperate from matter..

Answer 5

Free will existed in the Garden at which time our condition was Posse Non Peccare, Able to not sin. But with complete free will man chose to disobey God's word and hence to sin.

Following the Fall of mankind into sin and his being cast out of the Garden, his condition became one of Non Posse Non Peccare, Not able to not sin - the believer's state in life. We exist without free will. We cannot live a sinless life, regardless of how hard we might try. The Bible teaches us that no man has lived or will ever live a perfect life.

However, through faith in Christ, the Bible teaches us that "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me" and with this gift we are assured of an eternal afterlife. In this existence our condition will be one of
Non Posse Peccare, Not able to sin - the believer's state in paradise.

Answer 6

Yes, free will exists. Every parent knows this. Children are punished for wrongdoing because they possess the capability of making choices between various courses of action. Adults are also punished based on the same assumption. Our choices have wide-spread ramifications, and when integrated into the rest of the world's myriad of consequences the possibility of "fate" seems clear. I can't speak to that; I can only speak to the fact that I chose to answer this question.

Answer 7

NO!! MAN does not have that attributes called FREE WILL. What man has is an ABSOLUTE WILL which God bestowed on him called CHOICE (popularly known as human will). Why? So much so that man can't mess around with Gods creation on which God says "It is Good."

Free will is an attributes of God to create something out of nothing.

250-300 AD Archelaus "All the creatures that God made, He made very good. And He gave to every individual the sense of free will (choice), by which standard He also instituted the law of judgment.... And certainly whoever will, may keep the commandments. Whoever despises them and turns aside to what is contrary to them, shall yet without doubt have to face this law of judgment.... There can be no doubt that every individual, in using his own proper power of will, may shape his course in whatever direction he pleases." (Archelaus Disputation With Manes sees. 32, 33)

Answer 8

YES free "will" does but also "laws" that govern you also exsist to.
you are free to do many things under the " moral guidlines " that are set for us. Its unfortunate yes BUT have you ever seen lord of the flies the movie about kids who had total free will? its in our nature to be malicious and dog eat dog in a way. without rules we wouldnt be very happy . you think we would but look at the big picture! we realy wouldnt.

Answer 9

Yes, but that doesn't rule out knowing what we will do in any given situation (we know when in the spirit, other spirits know, God knows).

Put a very large, burly, selfish man of average intelligence, who has been a fighter all of his life in a room with a very small, weak, mentally challenged man with only one plate of food. We know the large man will take the plate of food and eat it, yet he has the free will to decide whether or not to share.

Answer 10

If you want a good answer to this question, look up the entry in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (which is online), and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

The answers you've been given are clearly unfamiliar with the current literature on the topic and are either question-begging, uninformed, or both.