Please define for me free-will, if you consider,?

Question

that many of your own decisions are based on past events, and these same events in the past affect the way you act today, have you really got " free-will " or are you simply a robot programmed to respond based on what has happened to you in the past. where does free will fit in to this picture?

Answer 1

Mmmmm, well, I don't believe in free will per se. Let's say we define free will as what the conscious mind does. We know that the conscious mind is "influenced" by hormones and drugs, but is free will separate?

If you look at the case of Phineas Gage, among other famous ones, I think it's clear that decision making is a brain function. If free will is decision making, and it can be affected by brain damage, it follows that the "your brain is a computer" hypothesis is true.

I also see no philosophical problem with it. Believing in physiological determinism empowers you to endorse more humane treatment for criminals, instead of pointlessly "punishing" them. (I say this as a victim of armed robbery.)

Answer 2

Dear Tony L,

Free will is man's ability to make choices, and to face the consequences of those choices- good or bad. It is true that people have experiences and memories and i think they are there to aid us in making wise choices. But people have a choice they make.

Learning from your past is wise. But not all people do that. How many people have ever had too much alcohol and felt absolutely terrible the next day and choose to repeat that action repeatedly? If someone chose the opposite route does that make them a robot? i think not. The point is everyone has a right to choose. But choices have consequences and some have worst consequences than others.

i think ultimately God values our freedom and this is why he allows man to make choices that are either God-centered or man-centered.

Our ability to respond is a freedom. Our ability to choose how to respond is our will...

Hope that helps. Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 3

our past may affect our initial reaction to a particular circumstance but we always have a choice as to whether we are going to respind that way or not. Change is possible and happens when we consciously choose to respond in a different manner than we have in the past whether it be for the good or for the bad- there are very few situations and very few people who truly have no choice in how to respond to a situation.
Because of habit, fear, intimidation, pride, etc. we might be more likely to respond in a certain way but we can always choose what we think about and it might be a little more difficult for some than others but we can choose to break a habit, to commit to something that we are not used to and not familiar with , we can choose to not say what we feel like saying or not do what we feel like doing. My past, how I grew up, what I was taught, etc. are just cop out excuses not to have to make hte effort to change a bad habit or cycle, the are excues not to forgive and operate in the free will God has given us.

Answer 4

It's one thing to say they effect the way you act. It's another thing to say they determine the way you act. Madalyn Murray O'hare was the founder of the american atheists association. She is the one who got prayer taken out of our schools back in 1962. She raised her 2 kids to be atheists. They were brainwashed to eventually take over the AAA after Madalyn was gone. However, one of her sons accepted Christ when he grew up and became a christian evangelist and is still preaching the gospel today.
Ravi Majarraj was the son of a hindu guru. His father was worshipped like a God. He too later became a hindu guru and was also worshipped like a God. His mother was a high up official in the hindu religion. He too accepted Christ and became a christian evangelist and is still one today.
Walid Shobat was the son of an islamic terrorist. He was raised to be an islamic terrorist. When he was a young man he was sent to the united states to join a terror cell in the U.S. to train to eventually commit an act of terror right here in the U.S. He too accepted Christ and he is today a christian evangelist.
The past does shape us but it doesn't determine us because we do have free will. Free will is the ability to freely choose based upon your own logic and reason irregardless od your past.

Answer 5

So then, the thing Jesus said about children being what heaven is populated with, kind of jives with what you are saying. Children definitely are not robots...they have no bad ingrained habits, and are innocent of wrong-doing, for if they do wrong, it is because they are children. They play until they are tired, and ask questions when they don't understand something. If someone is lying or stealing, their sense of justice is razor sharp. So then, within this bracket of defining "free will", it is agreeable. We all have that child somewhere within us.

Answer 6

I think in every time (even minutes) we must do a choice, sure it will be based on our whants(which are the resultes of our life experience). Because men is more time selfish, we have free will, for take care of the men who can suffering because my choice, and at final must choice a middle way, for can be good for both men. That mean we must die a little(cut from our whants) for the rezultes of our choice be good for the other men, too.
All men are brothers in God. In our life experience it will be good if we read the Bible (OT and NT) even once.

Answer 7

Theoretically we humans have the ability of free will, that is, to do or refrain from doing as we please. Now if that free will is influenced by past experiences, that is entirely a different question. I certainly like to think that no matter what has happened in my past, I will not deviate from following the dictates of rational, responsible, moral behaviour.

Answer 8

but the ability to respond in a non-programmed way is what separates us from robots ... are you really saying that learned behaviors rob people of their free-will? that may be true


but at any moment ... you can create something completely new, if you so choose

Answer 9

You have free will to ask this question. The point of the past is to learn from it, so you don't make the same mistakes.

Answer 10

The mythological story of Adam and Eve shows free will. Eating the fruit from the tree of life wasn't the first sin, is was the first act of freedom