Christians: Does a dog have free will?

Question

Why or why not? How can you tell? What is it about you that enables you to have it?

Sam G: Why is it stupid?

So if a dog does have free will, then please see my previous question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiZ8iVVZZkw1dHdgp3bTFivd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20071130065924AAMVrdk

Answer 1

no. because it is not an experiment in a self-evolving being, it is an experiment in a walking nose.
A pig is an experiment in a walking stomach.
A cow is an experiment in a walking mammary gland.
A horse is an experiment in a walking muscular system.
A cat is an experiment in an animal with a conscious moving center. In this sense, a cat enjoys automatically something WE have to WORK FOR. Consciousness.

I can't tell. What? You mean evidence? Evidence is for logical mind, the slowest, weakest mind available to us. Try using psychological mind.

What enables me to have it? The fact that I incarnated into a human body this time. Lucky I guess. The competition to incarnate as a human is SEVERE.

Answer 2

Since we are not quite sure how to articulate what it means for human individuals to have free will, it is hard to determine for sure if dogs have free will.

To my way of thinking, a dog is an autonomous entity within the general confines of the species. An individual dog reacts to the environment to the best of its abilities in order to survive and thrive. It forms attachments that at least seem analogous to human emotional attachments. So my provisional opinion is that within the general confines of the species, individual dogs have free will. It is just that the repertory of behaviors is more limited than in humans.

A rabid dog no more has free will than a human would have if a human was either severely mentally ill, brain damaged, or under the influence of some powerful psychoactive drugs. I suspect there are human analogies to throwing a rabid dog into a crowd.

Since I believe our experience of our "self" is at best a result of multiple contingencies (or possibly an illusion or "false view"), I do not see a firm line between the individuality of a particular dog or the individuality of a particular human. The major behavioral line is between language use and (largely) its absence.

Answer 3

Will viewed as a free power is defined by defenders of free will as the capacity of self-determination. Self is here understood not as a single present mental state (James), nor a series of mental states (Hume and Mill), but (and here is the essential) an abiding rational being which is the subject (self, or "I") and cause of these states.

We should distinguish between:

1. spontaneous acts, those proceeding from an internal principle (e.g. the growth of plants and impulsive movements of animals);
2. voluntary acts in a wide sense, those proceeding from an internal principle with apprehension of an end (e.g. all conscious desires); and, finally
3. those voluntary in the strict sense, that is, deliberate or free acts.

In other words, human beings are the only beings which we know have a Self. It is this self, or rational soul, which allows us to be free. Aristotle believed that animals had souls but not rational souls. The christians took much of this philosophy into their own philosophical sytems. Thomas Aquinas developed the idea thusly: Will is rational appetite. Man necessarily desires beatitude (beauty, goodness), but he can freely choose between different forms of it. Free will is simply this elective power. Infinite Good (In other words, God) is not visible to the intellect in this life. There are always some drawbacks and deficiencies in every good presented to us. None of them exhausts our intellectual capacity of conceiving the good (that is why human beings always desire something "more" and not simply "more" but "all" or God whom is "all in all" and infinite).

The rational soul was predicated only of man because man's soul is capable of knowing universals, ideas, thoughts, etc. And not this only, but (here is the essential thing) the human soul/mind is capable of knowing that it knows. There is a self which is conscious of itself.

Dogs do not seem to have this rational agent. You cannot sit down with a dog and discuss existence, religion, ethics, etc. They do not seem to have a self, like human beings have a self.

Finally, because it is often addressed next, artificial intelligence is not the same as human intelligence because it cannot be said to know that it knows. It is merely data processing which may someday "parrot" that it knows (maybe, maybe not), but it would still be constrained by programing. Whereas human beings have the data processing (brain) but also a spiritual self which knows itself and knows that it knows. It is this self that christians believe has God-given freedom and is the source of all free acts. Christians have always affirmed that the body and soul are therefore one unitive thing: man. That is why the resurrection of the body is necessary in christian belief, because human's are not meant to be without their bodies, they exist in an unnatural state and are not properly human without a body.

Answer 4

No. Free will applies to rational animals that use concepts/ideas to determine or CHOOSE how to act. Dogs have few motivators; hunger, sex. Humans have an ego to satisfy.

Answer 5

No. All animals are subject to man. God gave man dominion over the earth and the animals. We have a very orderly God who set rules and regulations and if you follow them you will be blessed. Praise the Lord.

Answer 6

Nope. Free will requires a rational agent (something that can think and make conscious decisions based on a set of logic or beliefs).

Answer 7

Mine certainly does. No matter how hard I tried to train her, she would still pee and poop in one corner of the floor. So, I used my free will and found her a new home!

Answer 8

I dont think you will ever get a better answer than Spiffs, wow, amazing. Have a blessed day.

Answer 9

Most certainly. A dog decides whether or not he is going to respect you or bite you.

Answer 10

All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.

1Corinthians 15:39 (NIV)