Is True Free Will Possible,or Are We Always Influenced by External Factors?

Whadda ya think dues??

I have been thinking a lot about the concept of free will and wheather it truly exists.

Every decision we make seems to be influenced by our upbringing,environment,biology and even subconscious biases. (Ah man!!)

Can we ever make a completely independent choice,or are all our actions the result of prior causes?

What do philosophical perspectives like determinism,compatibilism or existentialism say about this?

 

That’s a great thought.
I don’t think there’s any one answer to this question, there’s too many variables.
One answer (mine at this time without putting much thought into it) is unless you’ve been completely isolated for your full adult life, it’s nearly impossible to not be influenced by something from your past memories.
I think children are more likely to act free of influence since most haven’t been exposed to many people and the everyday hypnotic spell that marketers cast upon on us each and every day.

 

What if I say there are no real EXTERNAL factors? They only seem external. Maya plays tricks with perception.

 

I think not re the maya concept. We may perceive the same thing differently as individuals but the fact that we are perceiving them means that we are probably and/or possibly influenced by them.

 

So is it possible to see, hear, taste, feel anything and because of our cognitive memory not be influenced to some degree?
That’s kind of the whole point of learning isn’t it?

 

Wonder how Helen Keller would have answered that.

 

best comment on this thread

 

If i can walk out my house butt naked while screaming the lyrics to let it go from frozen thats free will and if it isnt then i dont know what is XD

 

Why wouldn't it be? We're not dolls. While there are some external factors, up to even the most dire and extreme circumstance, we have free will. I'll never understand why people think we don't?

 

Ya I dont know if we have it or not..... If Phychics can sense stuff,doesnt it mean everything is already written and we are just pawns moving thru time??

 

Nothing in life is free. We are all prisoners of the human condition. Even your birth cost somebody something. Free Will? An illusion. Make a choice about anything - Good, Bad or Indifferent and there is a cost. As long as you are attached in anyway to human society your freedom is chained one way or another for good or for ill.
Free to chose? Make a choice then think about what the cost may be. Chose to disagree with my analysis and believe elsewise. ( of course you can )

 

The truth itself can be demonstrably just right and just wrong, making way too much damn sense! Suggesting reality is for those who watched the wrong cartoons!

Free will is the freedom to surrender to reality! Unfortunately, reality is not only stranger than fiction, but tackier too!

 

Reality is more and more looking like a construct. Harder and harder to really know what is real.

 

The Chinese call it, "The Turning Point!" When the light bulb comes on, and 8 billion people figure out computers have mastered lowbrow slapstick.

 

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