Do you believe in free will?
I have always believed that we have free will, but started to question it late last year. I still don’t know what to believe, other than it certainly seems like I do because sometimes I feel regret and wish I could go back and make changes. I listened to an argument against free will that seemed sensible, where the guy was saying free will is an illusion because we all do what we want to do but none of us can control what we want - and whatever decisions we make are made based on what we want the most...but since we can’t control what we want, every choice we make is actually out of our control. What do you think?
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I can be a slave to my urges eg food, drugs, alcohol, angry explosions, workaholic, etc or I can choose to live by my values. I won't always get it right but I can try and constantly improve myself. Sometimes it is better to serve the greater good than to just gratify ourselves.
MsDemeanour
Level 8
May 10, 2018
0
zing:
According to this guy's theory, out of all the choices you're aware of in any given moment there's one you want more than any other and it becomes your decision. In this case, he would say you wanted to serve your greater good more than you wanted to gratify yourself, and in that moment you could not have wanted otherwise.
I believe in discounted will.
Sticks48
Level 9
May 9, 2018
0
zing:
I haven’t heard of that, what is discounted will?
@zing Not free?
zing:
@CreativelyMe I didn't understand that he was joking when I responded to him, I realized it a couple days later. He got me.
@CreativelyMe l haven't found anything in life that is completely free. ?
@zing I had to think bout it for awhile myself. Almost googled it lol
@CreativelyMe That's funny. ?
Of course we can control and understand what we want, if that was not the case, there could be no acts of deliberate rebellion such as hunger strikes, self sacrifice over coming fear or nature.
LenHazell53
Level 9
May 5, 2018
0
Cosmic Skeptic talks about that & it's kinda true. I haven't read Sam Harris' book on free will but I think it's along those same lines. I'm w you, I thought I had free will but now after educating myself a bit on free will. I'm going with it's an illusion.
mratheistshirt
Level 4
May 3, 2018
1
If we all had free will - Advertisers would be out of a job. We are all open to suggestion.
Flettie
Level 7
May 2, 2018
0
Open to suggestion, yes, but the ultimate choice is mine
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