Do you think that free will exists?

Question

Please explain. Here's another one of my questions that I'd love to have some answers to:http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aoj_4axaa8XlEZvOO6FwMQP27BR.?qid=20070401180252AA4S5No

Answer 1

Of course. The reason it exists is as plain in it's theory, as it is in it's practice. That is of course that you are speaking of it in a Platonic sense. The idea that man can change most anything about his life circumstance is very true. But you cannot will your lungs to stop operating, or the urge to urinate. It governs only finite actions of the human desire, and does not have a systemic practicality.

Answer 2

Yes, I believe humans have free will; that we are more than just a series of stimulus/response. Of course, I believe we can lose our free will, and become essentially like brute animals: just take a trip to Reno and peek into any casino, preferably take a look at those doing the slots. Free will is our ability to choose a response. Biologically we sometimes don't appear to have a choice in our response. For example the old knee jerk reaction. But everyday we wake up, we have a choice to decide how we will go about our day, and yes stay at home Mom's do have a choice whether or not to watch Soaps. As long as we have time, we have the choice what we will do with it, and how we will do it. Some activities promote free will better than others, while other activities seem to diminish it. For example, gambling, drug use, watching MTV's Real World or any of VH1's 100 worst or greatest "whocares". Don't you get sick of the same 5 people telling us what the all time 100 greatest and worst "whatevers" are? Ok, now I'm just rambling, which is my perogative.

Answer 3

Yes I believe that we have free will. I am a determinist and a compatibilist. This means that I believe every event, including every decision that has ever been made, has been caused by an unbroken chain of events from the beginning of time. I believe that there is only one possible future. No human action can change the fixed future. I also believe that although every event can be predicted, that we still have free will. I define free will as the ability to form conclusions and make choices based on your beliefs, experience, knowledge, wisdom, and emotions. I believe that God has given each person the freedom to make those choices without having those choices directly forced upon by any other being. I believe that our choices are often the cause of future events.

Answer 4

This question is dependent on what you think your Source is. If you believe you are a result of the evolution of primordial blob, then this question isn't even applicable. If you believe you were created by a Supreme Being, I guess you'd need to read His/Her teachings to find out if HE/SHE thinks you have free will.

Personally, I'm a Christian, and the Bible teaches that, while God is omniscient and knows every decision I will ever make, He gives me the freedom to choose to follow and obey, or go my own way and choose the path to destruction.

So my question for you is: Where did you come from? If you evolved, your existence is meaningless and inconsequential. Your "free will" has no purpose whatsoever.

If you believe you were created by God, then which God is He or She, and what does he or she say about free will?

Answer 5

Technically, it does not, because the world (except on an atomic scale) is deterministic, and if you knew the totality of a situation, including every input that a person had received during his lifetime, you could figure out what he would do. But of course that is impossible, and a free will model fits the observable world.

Answer 6

It depends on your point of view.

Free will is something that God has given us, but you need to realize that it has its limitations.

Christianity teaches that our free will is so powerful that it can supersede the will of God. This is simple nonsense. God loves us too much to ever allow this to happen.

Our free will is constrained by the choices God makes available to us. That is all of the possible choices that are available to us, lead eventually to the exact same outcome. Some take us in more circuitous pathways but all of the possible choices eventually lead us back home to God.

So the answer is actually yes and no. We do have free will but it is constrained by the choices God allows for us to pick from. God simply loves us too much to allow us any choices that would allow us to become permanently lost to Him.

Many religions teach that this is not the case, that we can become forever lost due to our choices. This is a simple lack of faith in Gods love for us. A simple misunderstanding No more no less.

Love and blessings

Don

Answer 7

We think we have freedom to choose because we ponder various options and eventually make a decision. On the other hand we have no proof we every really had a choice. The only reason we believe we have freedom of choice is because our thoughts tell us - and we believe them. There is no proof that we could ever actually do anything but what we did eventually do.

Answer 8

That depends on who you are and what you know. I think I have free will because I don't know what I'll do next- it just pops in my mind and I do it, but if you know what I'm going to do next- it's predestination. It's like watching a movie- from the character's point of view, the whole movie is based on free will, but to the view who has seen it before, it's all predestined to happen exactly like it happens. It's an in where you sit.

Answer 9

In my opinion, free will is one of man's biggest illusions. We all are certain of our free will but in fact we are pre-programmed biological computers, even if we don't want to admit it. The atoms which my brain is made of, were inside a sun, billions of years ago. Back then, they obeyed to the laws of nature perfectly and deterministically. Now, after that sun exploded, they formed our planet, me and my brain. I have no reason to believe that there is a spiritual essence in them now. They obey the laws of nature as before. My thoughts are electricity produced by brain cells. Therefore, a powerfull enough being could predict all my thoughts and actions, and even program them even since the beggining of the Universe. According to Heisenberg's principle, man is impossible to predict certain events, but that doesn't mean that a supreme being outside our Universe could't predict or predetermine them. So, we will never be able to predict the future but we don't have free will...we are programmed just as all the other molecules of matter in the Universe.
I think it doesn't matter anyway.
-If we have free will, then nothing changes inside us. We will continue to have the same feeling of freedom of choice (as we have now, because most of us believe in free will).
-If we don't have free will, then we shouldn't be worried because nothing is up to us! :)

Answer 10

I think people have the capacity to choose what they want or don't want. We all have pretty much the same possible choices and issues, so we are limited by the number of them, but within that scope we can choose yes or no. If we are overpowered by a temptation then it's not our choice that we did it, which sometimes is the case.