No, it does not exist according to most person's definitions of it. We as people are nothing but a domino chain of cause and effect, with ourselves constructed of matter which leads up to our mind which consists of biological and enviromental factors that causes us to think and interact with the external world in a consequental manner. To sum it up, we are made of our past, and our actions can be predicted because we are controlled by our past and body which make our minds.
Exactly! Things happen as a product of what happened before, and from what I heard, some people tend to believe they do things out of reason, their personality and principles, their complete control, and nothing else (which sounds pretty funny). This is what I was trying to counter.
As I wrote the previous post, I forgot to mention our biological functions. Our bodies were built to survive and some switches in our bodies causes us to react differently than our principles and personality would normally do. Agression hormones, for example, are one of the agents that affect some of us. I am controlled by one of the hormones against my will (this hormone I won't describe), and my disgust of it can hardly contain me.
My idea of free will is the act of following complex thoughts and principles (which are also from thinking), without most sorts of other factors that could influence the descision.
Well i think free will does not exist...think about it if we had free will there would be no laws e.g against the law to kill people/steal items. so i think we have still a tiny bit of free will but it is good that people are holding us back
Esphloded, I agree with you. So, here are a few arguments (presented in modus ponens form) for free will.
If people don't have free will, then they are not morally responsible for their actions. But, people are morally responsible for their actions. So, people do have free will.
People can perform a great many tasks by themselves, in particular, those that require purposive behavior. Computers cannot perform these tasks by themselves. The reason why computers cannot perform these tasks by themselves is that such tasks require the performer to have free will, and computers do not have free will. So, people have free will.
But computers carrying out a program is an effect of what we typed in. What im saying is that life is a product of some reaction on Earth, with some living and the rest dying. The substance that could withstand and reproduce passes it's genes to its offspring, with this process a cause and effect situation. Evolution happens with the better life coming out to survive and inheriting traits and having its traits mutated slightly, and this process continues until humans are made. The things we do is cause and effect, and the things a computer do is no different. Even if we created the computers and push the buttons to make things happen, a long time before we were made in a similar process.
Sure, Eshploded, we were made in a similar process, but the fundamental difference between us and the current state of machinery is that we, unlike them, can break from our "rogramming", if you will.
We are genetically predispositioned to certain behaviors, instincts, reactions, etc, yes. We are influenced heavily by hormones, yes. Still, however, people are not FORCED to follow those instincts. At the end of the day, we have the choice of what we want to do.
Well, determinism for me seems a bit iffy, especially complete determinism.
I mean, I agree that we are affected by our past and by past actions. History repeats itself, nature vs. nurture, etc. To me, causation can only go so far as an influence - perhaps a very heavy one - but never the actual decider. That still goes to the person in question.
But we are built out of influence which turns into an anchoring idea that causes us to make any decision. Even if it is an immediate thought that pops up in our mind that causes us to make the decision, the process can be broken down into our influential experiences, and our body.
I disagree that the influence "causes" us to do anything. It simply influences us. What of the people who defy seemingly all the influences that have affected them? What of those long, hard decisions that are sweated over, whose logic is dissected in all ways to figure out which decision is best?
I see no way that you can solely attribute those decisions to our influences. We are a species that makes choices, not simply follows the past.
Everything can be broken down into cause and effect. What we think is produced by an experience whether it is a long lasting memory or a immediate idea. What we think is shaped over the years of a persons life, and our behavior patterns are made through experience and other factors. Our judgement is merely the mind solving the problem that they face. Problem solving is a cognitive process which directly leads to thinking which leads to the mind which is built of other factors such as bodily influences, experience, and behavior patterns that are basically a sum of the two.
