Are our brains just part of the interacting environment or are they immune to causing forces and have some ability to create choices without any causing.
2007-12-23 11:53:42 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
In my opinion, free will is an illusion. We believe we are free to make our own choices, but the reality is, the choice we will make has already been determined. If you 'choose' to turn left at a crossroads instead of right, it's because you were meant to turn left. It's already been decided. You can't escape your destiny. If something is meant to be, it will be, and there's nothing you can do about it. I believe that everything that will happen to you is planned out before you are born, and you can't change it.
2007-12-24 03:45:27 · answer #1 · answered by The Wise Wolf 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
If humans have no free will, it is logical that some states of determined awareness might give an illusion of one's having free will.
Thus, "How may one prove one has free will?" is the question.
As this question is non-falsifiable, it cannot be proven that humans have or do not have free will.
Thus, one's position indicates one's perceptions and preferences, but the question as framed cannot be logically concluded either way.
If the question is altered to: "Do humans have the ability to make good choices?", the answer is "Yes."
The stasis then occurs at the point, "What is the nature of the Good?" I.e, is Good God, or is good relativity +/- along various axes.
Thus, your question is also restatable as: "Can God make a rock so big He can't move it?" The answer, likewise, is "No," as both God and Good, by Western definition, posit Justice, Truth, and other non-contradictory Qualia.
Thus, in fine, you are asking, if God Is, may one find freedom within a System of Justice? The answer is, "Yes." The understanding of Justice, God Good, denies injustice, iniquity.
If "God" is not, while supervenient biologicals are ultimately also governed by impersonal laws of physis, they are in degrees free to behave more or less rationally, in the Hobbesian social contract sense. Thus, again, a system of rational morality is, overall, superior to mere whim and force, for the majority of citizens. Nietzsche found this, in turn, to be too herdy, too oppressive, and held the self-actualizer as good. Maslow's work showed that all people, earning their daily bread, and then, when moving from need-satisfying to surplus, have opportunity to self-actualize. That most don't is a function of psychologism, not human potential. Furthermore, Maslow found, like Plato, that self-actualizers did far better when submitting to a Higher Power, e.g. an Ideal of transcendent perfection--Plato's "mythos" and Ideas.
Would note "Climb the Highest Mountain," Mark Prophet, and "Man, Master of His Destiny," as two introductories which take into account the above, and move forward.
2007-12-23 20:34:29 · answer #2 · answered by j153e 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thoughts are the result of chemical reactions within the brain according to recent research. The movement of elementary particles are definitely subject to enviromental influences, therefore you cannot have thought without 1) reacting to the environment and 2) interacting with the environment. It is thus certain that free will is an illusion.
2007-12-23 20:33:02 · answer #3 · answered by Sophist 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'd like to believe we have free will. I don't know if there is any way to really prove it though.
But I have sometimes wondered if maybe every action I do (including even typing this answer) has been forced upon me to do without even knowing it.
On the religious front (assuming you believe in G-d, which I do) I think we were given free will to make our own decisions and to be later judged for our actions.
But also since we are able to think about things in our head - I doubt that free will does not exist.
2007-12-23 20:18:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not think free will is an illusion. I feel as though I am making decisions for myself, and the feeling is powerful. Is it possible that I merely feel this way because of chemical reactions in my brain, but I have a hard time accepting that premise.
I am aware of the deterministic arguments of thoughts being the product of chemical reactions that were, of necessity, brought about by conditions brought about necessarily by conditions that preceded them, etc. I am aware of arguments based on chaos theory and the like that suggest that deterministic arguments are oversimplified. In the end, I am not personally able to refute determinism. However, my decision to reject it is an easy one.
"Be a philosopher, but amidst your philosophy, be still a man." - David Hume
Though I am unable to refute the deterministic argument, I know that it is of no use to me as I live my life. Whether I make decisions because of predetermined chemical reactions in my brain or not, I still have to make them.
2007-12-23 20:37:32 · answer #5 · answered by John73 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are just a part of the one giant interaction. The illusion of 'free will' is formed through thought and realized by translating the memory of experiences into that view.
2007-12-23 20:33:33 · answer #6 · answered by @@@@@@@@ 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
At every point of choice that we come across in our life, we have a ready choice, seemingly forced upon us by the emotions arising as our response to happening around or within us. But the fact remain we always have a choice to step back and step into the realm of the soul and make a choice from a higher perspective, from the viewpoint of the soul, to do as our soul would, or as many Christians believe, doing what Jesus would.
We all have choices, knowing them comes with awareness, and acting upon them comes with enough courage and self respect to make that leap from the mind to the soul!
2007-12-24 01:14:18 · answer #7 · answered by Abhishek Joshi 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Good one, i found out less attached i am to money and material stuff, more free i am ?! so i did it, now I'm happy and many other folks are happy also?
Best Regards.
Edit : You didn't like that? that's all OK I'm not a philosopher damn i can't even spell it ??!
But i ask you one thing: why do you go to work every day? aha? coz Elites own your house, car and dog ?
dig it now ? i will debate this with you if you wish?
Wow i am gonna run ! this is to complicated for me. I should stick to my field. no complication, all logical .
Folks i admit i can't even read some of this stuff ,
Thank you i go now.
Regards.
2007-12-23 20:06:42 · answer #8 · answered by iceman 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think there is such a thing as free will. We make choices right or wrong but we have the will to do so.
2007-12-23 20:04:53 · answer #9 · answered by tikababy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Will is Free by Nature, but like everything else, it's not what it seems.
Good luck!
2007-12-23 20:54:34 · answer #10 · answered by Alex 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋