What do you think about Free Will?

Let's start with these definitions, but we can change them as the discussion happens...

Free Will: one is able to make choices independent of circumstance.

Determinism: one is compelled to action by circumstance.


What do you think? Is free will plausible? Is determinism right?

 

How ya been lev?

 

Either we have free will, or the illusion is good enough to make the distinction meaningless.

 

by that def we dont have free will cause we all have to consider if we have the time/money/and repercussions of the actions we take

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Willy

That's what I think !
The awesome whale is awesome

 

didnt they have a free willy 2 and 3 that floped everywhere?

 

I switched the topic from free will to free willy, how good am I ?!

I have no idea though, I just had to post it

 

Like an orca out of water

 

I don't think those definitions are quite right. I always understood determinism to be more along the lines of "destined to happen," i.e. determined by preceding events or some other "rule/law" that supposedly governs .. everything.

Which is why I never put any stock in determinism.

Whether or not you like the other option, the choice is always available to you, IMO.

Making choices independent of circumstances though? that's ... something to chew on.

 

ah I laughed... So who is this guy?

 

I as well do not subscribe to either definition.

Here are how I define both:

Free Will -- The ability to make and act on decisions while being completely subject to neither the purely instinctual nor the divine.

Determinism -- All events have a cause.


Given that, they are not mutually exclusive to the human condition. Environmental, Physical, and Psychological conditions will always have an influence over each individual. However, free will enables the exact same conditions to elicit a varying reaction between 2 individuals. Also, both of the aforementioned individual's actions for that situation can be (with enough effort and knowledge) traced back to the same source.

 

I believe this post to belong in the philosophy group discussion

 

I think i just died inside from laughing.

 

I dont think the future is pre-set. We have freewill..we can choose.

Without freewill in a predetermined future..no one is responsible for their actions.

The killer had no choice but to murder if he has no freewill. Is he guilty then?

The car crash caused by slick ice was not an accident..you at the spot because you lacked freewill.

We are not set on a predetermined path..what would be the point in a universe at all, If it was already played out ahead of us. Why should you live at all.

Freewill is life...Humans would not have evolved an innate morality a willingness to help each other..if it was preset.

If your a "god" setting this future..why bother with an illusion of freewill..they will have no choice anyways..nothing would change without the illusion..you have already decided who is "good" and who is "bad".

freewill...does not mean there is no "god".

I dont know anything about determinism..most people will react the same way in many circumstance because of evolution. survival response...not only survival of you..but the species.

 

the arguement really is over the definition of what Free Will is... while the discussion was orginally framed around certain definitions, they were an opinion that everyone's had a different take on that alone.
determinism is a factor of free will even with the first difinitions; they are not mutually exclusive with those definitions.

if a gun is pointed toward your head, you are compelled to action (or inaction) based on your own experiences and feelings - function of determinism and free will among other things.