I tend to take what I hear from Sam Harris on the subject. A one word answer then would be no.
My experience as I'm dealing with life in the seniors (75) is changing so quickly on so many fronts, that lots of positions, long held, no longer mean excrement (expletive). That I could flip like that, cast a good illusion of my having free will. I need to further cogitate on that.
You had the free will to search that subject on previous posts.
Do I believe in free will? I want to but no one will let me. I never get to do anything fun!
I don't believe in anything, something either is or isn't, free will needs a definition, what is your concept of free will?
My concept of free will is. It's all about choices. No matter if bad or good no one can make a person do what they want unless they control them. And the Christian God is not responsible for man kind choices. We are the blame. People need to take responsibility for their own actions.
If we had free will we wouldn't be able to treat people with mental issues by adjusting their brain chemistry. I'm not talking about alcohol, weed, hards drugs, or drugging people tiIl they're like zombies, I mean theraputic chemicals. It would be easier to use psychology to tamper down moods.
Only psychedelics have a chance of helpings the phychologist's do their work.
If freewill is but an illusion, I can accept that illusion, and act accordingly.
I believe free will is an illusion, and that all experiences, including the experiences of making choices or acting on one's own, are ultimately, in fact, passive. I like Spinoza's view on this subject. Not believing in free will doesn't mean that one should use it as an excuse for bad behavior, though.
I totally concur!
Right. But it can inform us on what we should do about bad behaviour, such as focusing on rehabilitation in correctional facilities for the purposes of reducing recidivism.
Yes. We don’t always know/understand the reasons why we are compelled to do things, and our choices are shaped by our experiences, perceptions and options. But nothing is pre-ordained - we always make choices.
Free will has it's limits, there are societal and familial rules that preclude this not to mention economic limits. In a religious sense it is a way to legitmize the fact that there really is no God by claiming all the bad stuff people do is due to free will and it is true, they are free to be that way but it was not given because any God gave us that right.