Lucky for you, I have put the poisoned, disfigured and smelly thought into my mouth, but no one with eyes and a nose would go any further to swallow such a thing.
I was lucky to puke it out once, not going to try again.
Random things which depend on chance are the only things that can be considered a choice you made. Some of the examples you gave are great examples. <---Lol.
Not enough freedom to consider it free will though.
I believe so. Free will is the ability to make decisions without the arbitration of an outside force, in my own words. Such, even if your decision is based on past experience and predicted outcome's, it is still freely made.
If I were told to climb a fence and I touched it and got shocked because it was an electric fence, I would decide to put on rubber gloves and make an attempt to not let the metal touch my skin. My decision is based on a previous attempt and it's outcome, and it is freely made because I was not influenced by any forces outside of my control.
I have the ability to ignore an insulting remark made by a peer, but if I decide to act on that remark, I am deciding that the outcome of this situation is hypothetically better than the outcome of the opposing situation.
Free will is the ability to make decisions without the arbitration of an outside force
But like I said, your brain is that outside force itself. It works in a certain way and it will make a decision based on past experience. So you don't freely choose something, you choose one thing because of that.
I would love to have an explanation as to how my brain is an outside force. If you guys believe that we don't have free will because we base our decisions on previous experiences, then that's ridiculous.
@Xzeno: Internal forces are your own decisions. Internal forces are the basis of free will.
@Drace: Of course we make decisions based on past experiences. Doesn't make it any less our decision. Just because one thing happened and we have gained knowledge based on the past doesn't mean that that knowledge is forcing us to act in a specific way. People make many attempts to do the same thing, even though they all may end in pain or agony. It is the decision of the doer to carry out that act and previous experience only influences how the doer continues.
A philosophy teacher of mine made a point that our brain may be wired in such a way that we really have no choice. Then he shouted my name, and I immediately looked up at him. My brain is wired to look at someone when my name is said. A few minutes later, he said my name again, and I looked up at him again. And everytime he called someone's name, they looked up and the argument was presented that our brain is wired to look at someone when they call our name, and the brain is wired to react in one way concerning every situation. Thus there is no free will in the end.
I'm not sure if I buy the argument, but it was a very compelling case.
