Why I don't believe in 'free will'

[athoughtfulman]

I would agree with that. But I could argue that all these conditions are part of me and I'm using my free will to make a decision based upon all available information. Also, if it were as simple as that why have I yet to decide?

There will always be a reason why someone chooses one course of action over another. The question for me is, can that choice be predicted based on the laws of cause and effect or is there some random element intervening as well?

Although we go through our lives like robots most of the time, predictably making decisions that we are unaware of the process behind I still think that we do have the ability to override this automated system with our innate sense of self.

Again, this is just how it seems to me and I have no evidence..

Of course you could argue that, and I would wholeheartedly agree with you. When it comes to choices, we make them based very much on our own personal experiences. There will always be a reason why one person chooses one action over another, but that does not change the fact that we are oblivious to the reasons.

And as for our ability to override the automated system, I'm forced to ask, what makes us decide to override that system? In the end, my point isn't that we aren't the ones making the choice, my point is that we, in the end, have no idea what actually caused us to make a certain choice. So I guess in one sense, we are free. But it's a far cry from the free will that so many believe us to have.

If all the choices I make are influenced by next to infinite amount of reasons, I have absolutely no way of making a completely free choice. Sure, I can comprehend a few of the factors in a choice, but when it comes down to it, I am making the choice based on thousands of other things. It is for this reason that I will not say we're free. Though this does not mean I believe it to be completely random, nor am I for a deterministic world. All it means is that our supposed free will is much reduced.

Reminds me of something in the Matrix Reloaded. Neo is told by the Oracle that he doesn't have to make a choice, he has to understand why he made it. In the end, we make our choices, but it is near impossible to understand what actually brought us to make that choice.

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It seems to me that free will exists based on my own experience of life. Experience is the only evidence I have and it seems strange that someone could argue so passionately against any degree of free will.

Just on a side note, and I quite funny one I think , we all are arguing for either free will or no free will. Does that mean EvF didn't 'choose' to argue or hold his point of view, and that you chose freely? Or that I didn't have a choice to not believe in it? It's a strange idea methinks.