Does free will exist?
- Thread starter JC175
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Ack... this sort of question tends to make your brain hurt if you think about it for too long.
To take it in yet another direction, really our thoughts, emotions and behaviours are all controlled by neurons releasing neurotransmitters in our brains so really, our 'free will' is limited to the action of those chemicals and how they interact with receptors in the brain. If you look at it like that, all human emotion and experience can be brought back to a simple molecular interaction so 'free will' can only go so far as those interactions allow us.
This stuff hurts. I was never one for philosophy, I like science and its facts.
To take it in yet another direction, really our thoughts, emotions and behaviours are all controlled by neurons releasing neurotransmitters in our brains so really, our 'free will' is limited to the action of those chemicals and how they interact with receptors in the brain. If you look at it like that, all human emotion and experience can be brought back to a simple molecular interaction so 'free will' can only go so far as those interactions allow us.
This stuff hurts. I was never one for philosophy, I like science and its facts.
yes i believe you could predict some ones actions but this doesn't mean that they don't choose to do it and it doesn't mean we don't have free will
There are choices, however you're not always aware you make them, a lot of choices are made unconciously and therefor not really a part free will, and not always aware that the choice even exists, for the same reason. Also don't forget about casuality: you're actions are a reaction on something, and that action (wich sparks a reaction from you) can come from something or someone else. Fact is, we're a lot less in controll then we like to think, and our free will is not as free as we want it to be.
i dont think we should be mistaking pressure applied by society, and our social groups with the negative of free will...
options are forced upon us, but we are not mentally forced to follow them... there may be penalties, such as death... but that doesnt mean it enfringes on free will...
most of our choices revolve our whats best for ourselves, in the eyes of everyone else...
noones stopping you burning your house, and venturing naked to live in the woods...
except for your own belief that it would not be the best for your health, or your social status.
options are forced upon us, but we are not mentally forced to follow them... there may be penalties, such as death... but that doesnt mean it enfringes on free will...
most of our choices revolve our whats best for ourselves, in the eyes of everyone else...
noones stopping you burning your house, and venturing naked to live in the woods...
except for your own belief that it would not be the best for your health, or your social status.
I think that we have free-will in respect to relatively small and insubstantial things which conflate in influence over us and our surroundings overtime. When earth shattering events come or our own lives are in peril all sane people just perform the most apparently logical action.
Hey this thread has totally been done before. Even if free will doesn't exist why does it matter? It wouldn't make us any less free than we are now. Lol.
I believe there's such a thing as free will. Luckily, there's also the concept of self-control.
So you have the capability to do whatever you want, but you also have the capability to decide against doing whatever you want, if you so choose.
So you have the capability to do whatever you want, but you also have the capability to decide against doing whatever you want, if you so choose.
Okay, If free will is the ability to direct your own actions AND it always happens the way YOU would expect, and if it DOES exist, then I could go up to any random person, and say "Punch Me." and because it was ME who said it, and it was MY will, then it should happen.
But it might not. It all depends on the other person. There personalities and will.
So, depending on a role in life, you may or may not have free will.
Flawed logic is still logic, kiddies!
But it might not. It all depends on the other person. There personalities and will.
So, depending on a role in life, you may or may not have free will.
Flawed logic is still logic, kiddies!
This is pretty close to the mark. Sure we can do whatever we want. We just choose to not exercise that right. As for being able to predict my actions... I don't think it' possible. You don't know whether I want Vanilla coke or regular coke with lunch tomorrow, and neither do I. It'll be a snap decision.ThePoodonkis said:
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
Quoted from trainspotting
Quoted from trainspotting