(July 15, 2009 at 7:05 am)Pippy Wrote: It does not disprove free will for me to will myself to fly, and then fail to do so...
The problem is simple ... just like claims to the existence of deity, the claim that free will exists, is based on little more than wishful thinking. Although it's generally accepted that we have free will it's an acceptance based on what we would like to believe, we'd all like to believe we have freedom of choice, freedom to make our own decisions, freedom to do this that and everything else ... yet there's not actually any evidence and what we appear to have as free will could just be a mirage.
Do amoeba have free will? Bacteria? Plants? Insects? Reptiles? non-mammals? Mammals? Apes? Humans? If some do and some don't where does the dividing line sit and why? The problem, it seems to me, is that we are freely using what we use to think freely to evaluate whether we think freely ... er ... yeah! In the end we have no choice but to assume we have free will and proceed from there.
Personally I think I have free will or if I don't it's such a good imitation I don't greatly care and I'll happily just enjoy the ride but if you think free will genuinely exists then a little evidence would be nice!
Kyu
Angry Atheism
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Where those who are hacked off with the stupidity of irrational belief can vent their feelings!
Come over to the dark side, we have cookies!
Kyuuketsuki, AngryAtheism Owner & Administrator
