RE: Free Will: Fact or Fiction
September 28, 2012 at 9:55 pm
(This post was last modified: September 28, 2012 at 10:00 pm by IATIA.)
(September 28, 2012 at 4:42 pm)Tino Wrote: 1. If our will isn't free, what is it? What controls it? Is observed behavior consistent with the proposed controller?
I am thinking you meant to state 'is free.'
Let us start with my definition of free-will. "The ability to make a choice beyond the constraints of physiology". If free will comes from something besides the physiology of the body then we get into souls and afterlifes because the mind is then not confined to the body.
Quote:2. If our will isn't free, we ought to be able to demonstrate it somehow. Shouldn't there be a scenario, demonstration, experiment, whatever, that illustrates that we don't have free will?
The neurons would still require some action to make them fire. Drugs and electricity can force thoughts, emotions and actions for which we have empirical data, but the mapping has a loooooong way to go.
Quote:3. Going in the other direction, what would it take to convince you that we do have free will?
If I am still aware after my death, I will be convinced my awareness is not a part of the biochemical/bioelectric functions of the body and truly have free will. As a side note, it would also change my views on nihilism and a lot of other things, including the possibility of a god. In fact, it would wreck my world.
hock:I do not believe we can have free will in a godless existence. Free will was the last thing I lost any belief in as I could not find a way to accept free will without accepting a god. I believe free will to be a god=like power.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
