Free will does not exist

It is obvious that you certainly can make choices in any given situation, but the choices you make are based on the person you are, which was not your choice. Having individual choices, like watching TV and eating cake, does not make Free Will.

If you believe in God, stop believing, (or visa versa), for no other reason than to change your beliefs; that would be Free Will.

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Kinda like an 8 year old dog suddenly "deciding" to act like a cat ?

I can hear Pavlov's dogs now...."Hey spot, if you slobber this guy will give you some raw hamburger."

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The will is "to be", from the wall of a cell to gratitude no matter the form.

 

The "will to be" cannot exist before "I am."

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And?

 

I get what you're saying JackFlash, but does the fact that we have the ability to CHOOSE which motivations and desires to operate on not constitute free will?

Also, if a person wanted to change their beliefs just for the sake of changing their beliefs, would it not be possible to do so?

Haha, the dog thing made me laugh.

 

Are you smoking white widow?

 

I don't really understand your post to be honest...

 

Maui Waui.

 

^ Haha.

Good stuff, huh?

How exactly is weed relevant to this topic though?

 

I forgot.

 

Haha, that tends to happen when you smoke too much of it.

Jokes.

eace:

 

Or just enough.

 

The idea of having no free will, even if true, can be dangerous because it could lead to fatalism.

There are certain characteristics of a person that never changes, but those characteristics can become focused on our motivations and motivations can change over time as a result of accumulated knowledge and experience. As more knowledge is gained, the more options we have and this includes also our experiences because experience is aligned with knowledge.

If the idea "I have no free will" is consciously accepted then that adds to one of our options, but this option leads to a non-option by default if our focus is turned to it.

 

:coffee:

 

lol, I just meant that if we believe in no free will, then we'll be less open to the idea that we have options and choices.

 

I agree Def Zeppelin.

I actually think we're lacking a sensible definition of free will. Is the free will were talking about the ability to base all our choices on our personal desires (which I do believe we have)?

 

Motivation is nothing more than the degree to which you would seek to fulfill your desires. Desire is where you loose your free will. On a very basic level we are all the same. We all desire those things that make us feel good and we all desire to avoid those things that make us feel bad.

The things that individuals deem as good and bad vary with individual experience. The first few years of our lives are spent learning from the people who "control" our environment. These years are when we form our basic personality. And, btw, our parents are not the only people we learn from and we do not always learn the intended lessons that others try to teach us.

Our beliefs and "the objects of our desires" are based on those first few years of life, the years in which we had no control. In America, most people grow up to become Christians while in the Middle East most people grow up to be Muslims. Why is this?

I don't think you can change your beliefs once you reach adulthood, but traumatic or dramatic experience can cause a change; still not free will.

Having said all of this, one lesson I have learned in life is that very few things are empirical and every rule has at least one exception.

No, I don't think you can change your beliefs without a precipitating event (experience).


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Look at life as if it was a roller coaster ride. Once it starts you have no choice but to stay there, but it's fun.

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I have a feeling what some people call motivation is what other people call a lack of moral decision for One's own choice; thereby, they are at the state of determining their own state of cause. The question still remains if in all meaningful concern we (as a group of resistence) are primarily motivated to knowledge, OR primarily worried about the common project to resist 'their' knowledge in defence of our BELIEFS.

Are Chechyans virtuous (well motivated) people? I don't know.