Basically, do you think we have free will or are all our choices based on human instinct, training, past experience, trial and error, basic emotion or any other natural factors?
For example you get out of class around 1230 then head over to the cafeteria to eat lunch. Free will or naturalism? He has instincts to eat and feed himself.
2007-09-12 12:39:48 · 8 answers · asked by the bear 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
theron, most of the other ones are religious and involve god giving us free will. i am not asking a religious question here.
2007-09-12 13:20:51 · update #1
BASICALLY we all have free will. Few people come close to "free will". The boss tells you to do something: free will might say to tell the boss to go straight to H___! Because you need a job to earn money to buy food, pay the rent, etc., you don't.
We are all subject to our education, our training, our experiences in life; but, we still have free will to do something, even if not advisable to do so.
2007-09-12 12:49:09 · answer #1 · answered by Nothingusefullearnedinschool 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The answer is "C", all the above. We have free will, we also have obligations. Hence the ability to choose carrot cake while your friends doggedly insist on chocolate.
We do also make choices based on past experiences, like that time you ate the purple peppers on the Szechuan chicken and came close to experiencing spontaneous combustion...it was a choice, a bad one, and you haven't done it again since, why? Past experience and a modicum of common sense..and the smell of smoke in your hair.
We also get into patterns that are learned and just happen to work for us, sometimes referred to as a 'rut' due to the daily obligations of jobs, and bills that we all (ok, not Donald Trump) must face.
Instinct is what makes us run from large fires, and your great aunt who makes jello molds with celery.
It ain't Plato, but you have to admit, it strikes a chord.
2007-09-12 20:45:45 · answer #2 · answered by teacupn 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is a contiuum. Amoebas have none and can only react with instinct. Dogs and other predators learn a lot as youngsters and have some ability to "think" before following instinct. Humans have more free will than any animal we know of to go against instinct, but instinct is still definietly there.
We know of no being that has absolute free will which would mean consciously deciding EVERYTHING, whether to breathe, whether to love their child the 1st time they hold it in their hands, whether to pull their hand out of the flame. Perhaps this exists somewhere, but not on earth,
2007-09-12 19:43:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I don't call it free will, a more acceptable term for me is free choice. We humans can decide whether we want to be criminals or law abiding citizens, some but not all can choose their own carriers. If we commit an error we have the choice to address it or not.
If however, nature gave you a loving heart, you are bound to love. Your will does not come into it.
2007-09-12 20:13:07 · answer #4 · answered by Emory 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YUCH!!!
This free will question pops up here almost every single day. It's tiring! Read the answers to the myriad other instances of this question here. You can click on my name and look through my several answers to it quite recently.
Best,
TQRP
2007-09-12 20:16:55 · answer #5 · answered by Theron Q. Ramacharaka Panchadasi 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If we ALL have COMPLETE free will, then why do many of us CHOOSE to starve in Africa, or get sick with diseases, or die as a baby?
It really doesn't take much thought to realise that free will must be partial and perhaps fleeting.
2007-09-12 20:10:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Determinist.
2007-09-12 19:47:28 · answer #7 · answered by shmux 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We all have free will. It's our own little gift from you know who.
2007-09-12 19:47:07 · answer #8 · answered by Art The Wise 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋