I'm sure you are all well versed in the idea of having free will to choose good or bad actions as you please. It is used as the basis of the Christian argument as to why God allows evil to exist in the world. People must have the free will to do either good or bad and therefore choose to worship God themselves to gain entry to heaven. However if we analyse this further we will see that "free will" doesn't truly exist.
Me having "free will" would suggest that I have completely random thoughts going through my brain at a rate that allows me to act upon the good thoughts or the bad ones. Sounds simple enough but this isn't true. The process of my thoughts, feelings, emotions are a result of my character that has developed from a child until now. If I done something out of character then a friend or family member would notice this and point it out to me. This surely indicates that there Is a pattern to my behaviour that has been modified to reflect the circumstances in which I have grew up in, life experiences etc.
If I was to move from where I live now and go into a different environment with new people around me, then over time my character would change to reflect the new environment. This result in an adjustment of my moral compass and further emphasises that the thoughts going through my brain have been developed in a structured way and aren't simply random thoughts of good and evil acts.
“Take a moment to think about the context in which your next decision will occur: You did not pick your parents or the time and place of your birth. You didn't choose your gender or most of your life experiences. You had no control whatsoever over your genome or the development of your brain. And now your brain is making choices on the basis of preferences and beliefs that have been hammered into it over a lifetime - by your genes, your physical development since the moment you were conceived, and the interactions you have had with other people, events, and ideas. Where is the freedom in this? Yes, you are free to do what you want even now. But where did your desires come from?”
― Sam Harris, Free Will
Hope this helps to shed light on the flawed concept of "free will". Even when considering a person's blame when they commit a certain crime we consider the current mental state of the individual and the circumstances it occurred In thus negating the notion of free will. It would seem that we don't have as much control over our decisions as we ultimately think
Me having "free will" would suggest that I have completely random thoughts going through my brain at a rate that allows me to act upon the good thoughts or the bad ones. Sounds simple enough but this isn't true. The process of my thoughts, feelings, emotions are a result of my character that has developed from a child until now. If I done something out of character then a friend or family member would notice this and point it out to me. This surely indicates that there Is a pattern to my behaviour that has been modified to reflect the circumstances in which I have grew up in, life experiences etc.
If I was to move from where I live now and go into a different environment with new people around me, then over time my character would change to reflect the new environment. This result in an adjustment of my moral compass and further emphasises that the thoughts going through my brain have been developed in a structured way and aren't simply random thoughts of good and evil acts.
“Take a moment to think about the context in which your next decision will occur: You did not pick your parents or the time and place of your birth. You didn't choose your gender or most of your life experiences. You had no control whatsoever over your genome or the development of your brain. And now your brain is making choices on the basis of preferences and beliefs that have been hammered into it over a lifetime - by your genes, your physical development since the moment you were conceived, and the interactions you have had with other people, events, and ideas. Where is the freedom in this? Yes, you are free to do what you want even now. But where did your desires come from?”
― Sam Harris, Free Will
Hope this helps to shed light on the flawed concept of "free will". Even when considering a person's blame when they commit a certain crime we consider the current mental state of the individual and the circumstances it occurred In thus negating the notion of free will. It would seem that we don't have as much control over our decisions as we ultimately think
