In my faith, we believe that few things are already decided by God, Birth/Death.
While everything else we do is our choice.
So yes I believe I have free will.
I think it would be best for you to consider the rest of my post. Determinism has it's arguments.
i reckon free will exists if i do something stupid i decide to do it myself i dont do stuff because anyone wants me to i do it cuz i want to
Again as above, see the rest of my post, as I will try to prove you otherwise.
But how can this be true, seeing as most things that you chose to do in your lifetime, will alter you lifespan in some way or another. So is god really 'in control' of your death?
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.
Exactly. I could choose to go out and binge drink and smoke right now, and continue to do so for the rest of my life. Sure enough I would die earlier than I would if I didn't do that. It's simply my choice.
Read further, it is actually not your choice.
How can you people abide by some mystical form of superior being which does not exist? You people are idiots, I know I'll probably get flamed by you. But realistically; a man who watches over everybody, knows what everybody is doing, what they are going to do? It's a complete lie, but I do thank whoever wrote the bible because to a certain extent they did promote moral, which is probably why we're so developed in modern times, but is also why we have police forces, governments, royal families and such to keep us in order.
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.
Different branches of Christianity teach different things.
Calvinism: Believe everything is pre-determined, your death, who can actually follow god, the kids you will have, etc.
Protestants: Believe they have free will.
Really, it depends on what you believe.
I'd like to believe I can make my own choices and that everything is not pre-determined. Instead, it changes based on the choices one makes in life.
This says it well, however, again I'll try to disprove this at the end.
I believe in free will, Just because Christians contradict themselves doesn't mean i will stop either
Read further my friend.
We all have free will, but not the resources to use it.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
