Free will or Determinism?

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

For those wondering, these are two philosophical schools that are often pitted against one another. Determinism is the philosophy that says your entire life is determined from the circumstances of your birth, that your parents, your school, your friends, they all not only determine who you are as an adult but what your values become as a person. Meanwhile the school if Free Will focuses on the opposite, that poor circumstances around your birth can be overcome, that you can just as easily ruin your life as build it up if that is what you want as an individual. Which do you think is more in line with what you believe about the world?

Determinism

Free Will

[Sonorous]

I believe that free will is an illusion. But I also believe that humans mentally do better when we feel like we have "free will." We typically do better when we're under certain shallow illusions, not thinking too much about the deeper aspects.

The reason I feel it is an illusion is because reality itself is dependent on systems. Look at anything, name anything, & you can always go deeper to some fundamental restriction. Logic says these systems have to obey laws if they want to exist enough to be anything discernable. And well, if they have to obey laws, then that means they're the exact opposite of free. They're confined. But that's what gives meaning.

[DrPepper12]

Nurture will leave a mark AND set the stage for success / failure. Your already born with 400+ identifiable personality traits regardless of parenting style or resources. It's mostly determinism but free will plays a small role for most people.

Fun fact: The SAT is better at predicting your zip code than college readiness.

[Kelley1]

It may be that everything we do is just following the law of motion and that it only feel like we have a choice. However, I prefer to believe we are more than that and that we can make choices.

[PA19062024]

Of course we can make choices. I chose to respond to this comment of yours, but I could quite easily have just ignored it.

[PA19062024]

Life is a mix of both, not exclusively one or the other.

[jahaims]

Free will