Does free-will actually exist?

Ah, Christianity. Welcome to the wonderful world of contradictions.

If God is all knowing and omnipotent, then he knows what is going to happen, how it's going to happen, and when it's going to happen. Yet he gives us free will?

So by a religious view, no there is such thing as free will.

However, me being an atheist, I do believe in free will. It's your life, so live it how you want.

 

Taking religion out of the picture brings in neurology. Most of the processes of your brain are subconscious, including desires, which are not under your control. You may not have as much free will as you might have thought. Addictions, habits, desires all are not within your control.

 

You can change your habits. You can stop addictions. We have the ability to control those things. You are right about desires though.

 

You can change your habits, but many times it is hard. If you really did have free will, wouldn't you be able to change them by just thinking that you want to change them?

 

I think it would be best for you to consider the rest of my post. Determinism has it's arguments.

Again as above, see the rest of my post, as I will try to prove you otherwise.

This really is off-topic, I don't know why I multi-quoted it, but anyways, the topic is on free-will, not if God controls your death.

Read further, it is actually not your choice.

You completely went off-topic. This has nothing to do with the fact, and believing in a higher power does not make someone an idiot. Perhaps you should invest in going to a philosophy course, because you clearly have not entertained the other view if you are as narrow minded as this post comes across.

This says it well, however, again I'll try to disprove this at the end.

Read further my friend.

Could you elaborate on this? How do we not have the resources to utilize free-will? What are these resources? Can you choose to utilize and not utilize free-will?

Being and atheist or a theist really is irrelevant. It is based on determinism or not. "God" is really dependent on one's religious. In philosophical terms, God is simply a term applied to what some consider a "necessary" being, in that it is a being that cannot NOT exist, or in other words MUST exist. God seems like a pretty good way to define it, however, it isn't the only way.

Yes, assuming you had it.

Now to the bulk of my post:
Let's lay out some definitions before we begin. Let's define determinism as "Each and every event (that is, everything that happens) is determined. Alternatively, at any instant, there is exactly ONE physically possible future."
Let's also define a determined event, we'll call is "Event E is determined". It is defined as "There were antecedent sufficient causal conditions "C" for event "E"; that is, given that conditions "C" occur, "E" had to occur." Another way to define it is "Given what precedes event E, E was inevitable." Lastly, you can define it as "Given conditions C and laws of nature L, the strict conditional (C+L) E.

Alright, now let's assume there is a "clearly" free action. What happens right before you perform a "free action"?
There are factors to consider such as
-Your beliefs
-Desires
-Deliberation over options
-Brain states (what are your hormone levels, thoughts, etc.)
-Environmental Stimuli
-Insert any other factors here:___________

So given these conditions, can you actually choose something, or is it chosen for you?

Next we move to the Metaphysical Problem of Free Will (the view of hard determinists)

1. Every action is either determined or undetermined.
2. If an action was determined, then the action is not free.
3. If an action is undetermined, then the action is not free.
4. Thus, either way, there are NO free actions.

Given this argument it is fairly obvious that there is no free-will. One must reject a premise #1-3, or reject the validity of the argument to disprove it. As for the validity, it is simply Modus Ponens, which is valid.For the premises, let me clarify.

1. This is a basic premise, which I believe no matter your belief, you will accept.
2. Again, regardless of position, it is fairly obvious and unopposed.
3. If an action is undetermined, in that despite all of the conditions described earlier such as environmental stimuli, brain states, beliefs, etc., then what is it that determines an action? Nothing? That would be to say that you, which is composed of your beliefs, desires, etc, do not choose your actions, which means it is not free will.

Perhaps an example can clarify that.
There is two doors. You get to pick one and whichever one you pick, it's going to get released into the world. The first door has something REALLY good behind. Perhaps the best thing you've ever experienced in life. This thing is awesome. Behind the second door, there is everything from door one, and just a little bit more good stuff. Now which door do you choose? Logically, you choose door #2. However, the opposer might say, "well what if I don't want all that goodness, what if I want it to be the lesser of the two?" To that, I say, consider the conditions presented earlier, desires, beliefs, etc. Would being narcissistic and desiring the lesser of the two fill this? Yes, it would, and did you choose your beliefs and desires? No, because you believe and desire them. Did you choose to like vanilla ice cream more than chocolate? No, you simply do. So therefore, if none of the factors I listed originally determined what you choose, then what does? because you certainly do not, and if you don't choose, then it is clear that free will does not exist.

 

@R33l2r3al

I just touched my nose. Now my foot. I chose to do these things. If these events are predetermined, I still have the sense of free will. I can "choose" to do anything I want to. I can get up and touch my door, or sit here and type this out. I can write a book, or run a mile. For all practical purposes, I have free will.

 

Yes you can change them by having the mindset that you want to change them..

 

Many smokers are unable to change them with will power alone. They rely on drugs in order to help them. That doesn't seem like free will to me.

 

I do not believe in free will. I was born as a baby with predetermined genes and no knowledge and was taught the world around me by others. All decisions I make are based on knowledge gained and experiences from the past brought on by other people.

 

Yet YOU are the one making the decisions; so you do believe in free will. Do you honestly believe everything in life is predetermined?

In response to the OP, I believe it exists, absolutely. This whole thread is merely speculation though, technically speaking you cannot prove or disprove freewill.

 

I don't believe in free will. Technically I am making the decision, but my choice is already predetermined.

 

The only reason you would touch your nose is because you have the DESIRE to touch your nose. It could be because you have an itch, it could be because you're trying to prove a point, either way, it was desirable for you to do so and therefore already predetermined. And you may say, well what if I don't choose to itch my nose, to that, you are again, trying to prove a point that you have choice, however, given that you are aware of the two choices, to itch, or try to prove a point, and DELIBERATING as to which is most beneficial, it is essentially determined (and/or predictable if we were able to decipher all the outside factors) as to what your choice was. It would follow, that you have no choice.

This^

It is all speculation. I would like to make clear, I am not endorsing the hard determinist's position, I'm simply arguing it.

 

Your brain really functions has a bunch of "zombies" that some how create the illusion of consciousness. Now, these zombies try to "tell" you what to do and this is where free will comes in. If your mind really does let you have a choice, to go against your desires, for no reason, then you may have free will in the sense we want to think of it in. Otherwise, your "zombies" really control you completely, with an illusion of free will that showed up evolutionarily because it makes people happier.

 

Or perhaps the free will that everyone seems to be talking about isn't free will are all. Perhaps it is only surface freedoms (as explained by philosopher Robert Kane) and that the TRUE freedom of will is significantly limited (if not entirely limited) by some other force. This would rely on the fact though that free will is an illusion or unattainable.

 

The notion of free will being an illusion is a distinct possibility. However, without hard evidence either way it will be a mystery. However, in a Christian view there is no free will unless you want to start some pretty big contradictions. Either way, the illusion of free will is just as good as free will for everyday human activities because who would ever know the difference?

 

Then that's because they don't have the discipline to stop. It's possible to quit cold turkey.

 

If you want to stop doing something but can't, that means that you do not have free will.

 

Addictions can be broken if you have the right mindset. Habits can also be broken if you are determined to break them.

Desires, you have me there. We all have them, I don't see a way to change them. I am not studying psychology and do not plan to, so if anyone who happens to be will help me out I'd like that.

 

What i don't get is how free-will is even possible when we're made up of structured 'In-lign' cells that tend not to jiggle around. The brain doesn't change shape and move around so how is free-will even possible but it's there?

Im tired and if this post makes no sense it's because im literally falling asleep at my keyboard.. Gonna go bed anyway

 

As for the addiction bit, you need to WANT to stop before you will stop and i mean deep deep down. I smoke, I want to stop but not enough to actually acheive it, I've learnt to just keep smoking until i seriously do WANT to stop.