I would really like a definition of "free will" - just so I can see where everyone is coming from.
2007-08-15 08:00:58 · 36 answers · asked by Nea 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Why are people telling me that because I have the ability to think, I have free will? This makes even less sense than I thought it would.
2007-08-15 08:13:03 · update #1
Oh yea, and I'm agnostic. Can you still answer the question without dragging religious nonsense into it?
2007-08-15 08:16:29 · update #2
The illusion of choice, a side-effect of the evolutionary process that shaped our brains. This remains a deterministic universe on the macro scale at least, and a finite number of neurons firing remains a turing-complete set.
We're biological read/write turing machines, wandering around our environment reprogramming it and in turn being programmed by it. Free will is a complete sham. Just because it's complex doesn't mean it isn't all new states resulting from previous states.
2007-08-15 08:10:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
It's true that everything that makes us who we are is derived from the influences of our environment ("nature") and DNA ("nurture"). For me, free will is the ability to choose *which* of your many complex values should overpower the others in the moment of your decision. For example, in pondering whether or not to purchase a delicious brownie, your value of seeking immediate pleasure is pitted against your value of maintaining a balanced diet, and the victor is determined by an unreachable, undefinable, likely subconsious "something" called "free will." Contemplating it directly is rather like trying to stare at your own eyeball.
This is not a very satisfying answer to the ruthlessly logical, and I normally side with them on nearly every issue (for example, I don't believe in God, due to, among other things, the lack of evidence). But I have to digress on this one and admit that there is no reason the universe should always work exactly the way one of its most extraordinary products — human logic — does. Consider quantum physics — it may be consistent (for the most part) but does it make perfect sense? No. Look outside your window — what shape is the Earth (if you don't live in a hilly area)? It's flat. The Earth is flat, and everything has a cause knowable to humans, and there obviously can't be free will. Obviously.
Anyway, this is the part of disource where (to me) strict intuitive logic is less important than just getting along in the world. How can we possibly praise a work of art, or evaluate a politician's legacy, if it just plain could never have been any other way?
Can I explain free will satisfactorily? Nope. Do I care if you believe in it? Only if it helps you get through your day. If you find something that works just as well, let me know.
2007-08-15 08:39:52 · answer #2 · answered by lenoxus 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Free will is having an uncaused, undetermined thought. That's not possible so you don't have free will. It's an illusion - a convincing one, but an illusion nonetheless. All thoughts are determined by your previous brain state along with sensory input, and they follow the laws of physics. Even if there is a random quantum aspect to thought, it's still determined - it's just not predictable. Still no free will.
Nobody gets it.....I recommend you all read the Wiki and some philosophical discussions about this. Most of you really have it wrong. Look at HypnoPope and SuperAtheist on this one.
2007-08-15 08:06:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Religious nonsense is where the term "free will" came from. You can not separate one from the other. Free will refers to the freedom that God gives every human being. This is a freedom to choose. You can choose the perverbal good or the evil. Because God didn't want robots as children he gave us a will to choose Him (good) or evil (satin). This may sound like religious nonsense but free will is based in religion. Good luck.
2007-08-15 08:35:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Though people may offer different definitions and interpretations about this subject, or perhaps some doubt its existence, the most rational definition of "Free Will" is the freedom of action and freedom of will. It's the ability to choose what to do and not what to do.
2007-08-16 00:38:18 · answer #5 · answered by Mr. Wizard 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Webster defines free will as:
"1 : voluntary choice or decision 2 : freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention"
What that means is, God lets you make your own decisions about things, and thus determine your own path in life, without intervening.
God has made His rules very clear. He gives us a free will, but not without the knowledge that there's a consequence. For thousands of years, people have exercised this free will, and some have gone to heaven and the others to hell. No one has been FORCED to do anything they didn't want to do.
2007-08-15 08:12:05 · answer #6 · answered by Christie 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Free will is the ability given to us by God (sorry, i'm a christian) to have the ability to make our own decisions. Decisions like doing right from wrong and choosing to follow and believe in him or follow the things of this world. It's all your choice and knowing that you say I except the consequences of my decision.
2007-08-15 08:32:32 · answer #7 · answered by mthstasia 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Wow, betcha get a bunch of different answers to this one. I'm anxious to see them all.
I'm a Catholic with some Quaker laced through. To me free will is the ability to make my own decisions and choices, PLUS the freedom to ask for God's guidance in my choices or not, PLUS the initiative to read, pray and learn more and more about myself and God -- or not.
I figure God made us because we are His children, not His slaves and not His rag-doll puppets.
2007-08-15 08:04:39 · answer #8 · answered by Acorn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have limited free will. God has unfettered free will. God is totally sovereign over His universe. He has the free will to do what He pleases, when He pleases, why He pleases, and how He pleases. Everything that occurs in the universe is either caused by God or allowed by God. He gives humans limited free will. You may decide where you are going today, but God can stop you at anytime and that is well within His rights as the sovereign God and creator. The book of Jonah is a great example of what happens when man's free will runs up against God's free will, guess who wins?
There is no free will in salvation. God chooses, God selects, God elects.
2007-08-15 08:10:06 · answer #9 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Free to do what your able to do. You can do many things but not all things. Sinful man is dead in sin and cannot see, understand, or choose to do good spiritually. He is able to be a good person morally but not spiritually. That is why Jesus said that we must be born again to even see the Kingdom of God much less choose it. What person even choose or had the will to be born? It is always the work of another both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm.
2007-08-15 08:14:36 · answer #10 · answered by beek 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋