Free Will: Fact or Fiction

[Tino]

Our laws and the survival of the species require the removal of or adaptation to obstacles, but the instigator is no more responsible for their actions than a tiger on a rampage. The tiger is not at fault, but it still needs to be taken down. Just because a murderer is not 'technically' responsible for their actions, that does not lessen the impact on the survival of the species.

Interesting. You're saying that people are not accountable for their actions, but we have to deal with them as if they are, for the protection of society. What about crimes less than murder - everyday crimes - or what about breaking of rules by children? Since they are not responsible for their actions, how do you treat them when they transgress?

Societies worldwide appear (to me) to deal with punishment, from children to criminals, as if people have free will. Our court systems treat people as if they have free will. This is evidence to me that the non-free-will crowd bears the burden of proving their claim.

The downside to this awareness, is that we believe that we have control, whereas we have no more control than a wasp nest or ant colony.

I doubt that this claim would stand up to a test.

I flip off idiots in traffic. I have found, that no matter how hard I try, I am unable to not feel the frustrations involved. I am incapable of defying my body. I personally hold persons responsible for their actions, whether good or bad, but again, I am totally incapable of defying these feelings.

Feelings happen. They are not controlled by the will, which is about making choices and taking actions. In most situations where you feel frustration you are saying that you choose to express it. I could easily devise scenarios where you would choose not to express it.

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Humans have free will, but that is not to say that their actions have not been predetermined, but there is free will because unlike the beliefs of the Ancient Greeks, for the most part, people are not knowledge about their fate. The loss of free will is knowing your fate and you not being able to do anything to alter its course.

I don't understand this. Are you saying that our actions are predetermined? Are you also saying that we have free will?

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Actually, even if we don't have free will, experiences will still affect our actions. So if we knew what we were going to do in advance, this knowledge would change things and possibly result in a different future

If we change our decisions based on knowledge, how is that different than free will?