Do you believe in a free will?

[Anonymous]

Man can do what he wills, but cannot will what he wills. Schopenhauer

There is no 'will' at all, there is the 'will to'. Nietzsche

Yes

No

Updates

+1 y

Im reading the new translation of the Iliad and... it's amazing how one of the author's main themes is how the gods influence every action mortals take... no one is beyond influence

Updates

+1 y

1 line goes like.."I have the will to fight. let Zeus decide who shall die." Paraphrasing that.

[wolfcat87]

To an extent. We are all essentially AI's with preprogrammed codes. We are all limited and influenced by those codes. Nature essentially. Instinct and predetermined DNA sequences deciding everything you're capable of and driving your every thought and behavior.

On top of that there's Nurture. How you're treated as a child when you have little to no free will. Brainwashing, indoctrination, forming your reality and personality for you.

Once you make it through all of that, you're left with "you get what you get/what we've given you and good luck".

Then, there's fate. I believe fate is real for me, but only in there are certain choices I'm meant to hit and they will majorly impact the rest of my life when I get to them. I can follow fate and that path, but I also have the choice to ignore it and completely derail the path I'm meant to be on.

There are all of the other people whose actions are interacting with whatever you want to do and potentially limiting you.

Then, there's physics and all of the rules of our realities.

People have to try to work will what little free will they have left after all of that and call it good. So, sure, there's some free will. It's not a lot, but it's there.

[Asker]

people confuse free will with voluntary acts vs acts of compulsion... honestly, the idea you can will what you will, is insane to me

[IslaTheWitch]

I believe I'm master of my sea. I believe that my decisions and their consequences are important and that there is no fate set for us.

I believe I make my choices.

[Asker]

There's no fate... Ok. so when someone like Albertt Einstein was born, he didn't have the particular environment and genes needed to become Albert Einstein?

[IslaTheWitch]

He was born a human being called Albert Einstein. Until some age, his parents/guardians made decisions. Over some age, he did.

He needed to bear consequences. He was extremely gifted in some areas and was lacking in others. Tbh, I don't know Einstein's history, except for his lack of social skills and being rejected from universities in the very beginning. But I know that Stephen Howking consciously pushed to his position. He knew what he wanted, and he did everything to achieve it.

[Asker]

Ok? He knew what he wanted is not the same as wanting what you wanted

[WindAtMyBack]

In the way we use the term, yes. In a literal sense, no.

In the literal sense, I think there is no such thing as choice. The first domino fell billions of years ago, and it's been nothing but a big chain reaction every since. The thing we call choice was actually determined long before any kind of life existed.

[Asker]

Oh so you accept all the psychological misery of guilt for your actions but you don't literally believe you can will what you will. Silly man. Cmon.

[WindAtMyBack]

There is nothing silly about it. I don't even see how it's possible to have free will and true choice unless you believe in some kind of "soul" or "spirit" that is completely separate from our physical body.

Besides, even if it's silly, your question and my answer were determined trillions of years ago. Neither one could have been anything other that what they were. If a single atom would have been in a different place a hundred trillion years ago, very likely neither of us would be here.

If my answer is silly, there are a whole lot of scientists who are silly as well. Because there are sure a lot who think much the same thing.

[Juxtapose]

I accidentally voted yes when I meant to vote no.

There is no free will, it is an illusion. Everything you do is determined by your DNA and how your brain was programmed by your environment.

Throw my ass into a different upbringing and I would be a totally different person. That's not free will.

[Asker]

I agree. But there is the will to... and that can be confused with a "free will". That's just freedom vs slavery.

[OddBeMe]

Obvi we’re talking Neitche and deep philosophy. In general, I’d say of course.

But deep down discussion, not so much. There are elements but let toss this factoid out: Our subconscious makes decisions in nanoseconds and then convinces our conscious we made that decsion.

[madhatters4]

i subscribe to Nietzsche's position. we have free will inherently however we generally do not feel truly free to exert our free will. our free runs into limits of social and natural law, societal expectations and constructs.

[LiamJHayden]

People are slaves to their desires, and whichever desire is stronger/strongest in the moment will win, if obtainable for the person.

[Asker]

I agree but that doesn't answer the question. Many people do live by their will, not their desires. The difference is the will implies a sense of purpose. Desire is animalistic.

[slatyb]

I'm undecided. I don't believe there is any magic -- it's all in the brain.

[SotiCoto]

The question is meaningless, as "free will" has no definition that doesn't raise more questions than it answers.

[Anonymous]

Any time I try to free my willy, they come and arrest me!

[exitseven]

Yes, man was given free will.

[Asker]

Thats what Christians say. But christ said: John 6:44-51 KJV
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:

That doesn't sound like free will

[exitseven]

I have free will. The Bible is not always right

[Asker]

Ok i thought u were Christian my bad

[exitseven]

I am but I have free will.

[NathanDavis]

not as they sell it, no...

[jahaims]

On a philosophical level no. Conceptually yes

[Joker_]

sure do

[Asker]

What would you say to a neuroscientist who could prove the human brain knows what it is going to do before the conscious part knows? Call it a spirit if you like, something possesses us