The subject of free will and human nature has been the focus of much of my academic career. I've travelled to many strange parts of the world and seen many strange things in order to try and find an answer.
So far as I know, there doesn't appear to be any evidence for free-will.
Free will, in this case, means action without cause. But everything seems to be caused by something. I reject the idea, however, that it's all determined since the beginning of time - that seems like metaphysical nonsense.
Human beings are responding organisms (like all others). We respond to stimuli. If you get stung by a plant, your brain memorises the configuration of that plant and when you see it again, you won't touch it. You'll even warn others not to touch it. But without the stimuli of being stung in the first place, you can't manifest the reaction of warning others not to touch it - you have no basis to do so. This is the very basic form upon which stimuli/reaction take place.
But there are a few things that will trip you up when studying it. The most common is that if a human being encounters the same stimuli twice, it may not manifest the same reaction twice.
If you slap someone in the face (stimuli) they may say 'Ow, what was that for?' (reaction). If you slap them in the face again (identical stimuli) they may slap you back (different reaction). This isn't a certainty, though. They may, for example, hit you back the first time if they had received certain stimuli in the past (i.e. being taught to fight back) or they may not slap you back a second time (i.e. being taught to turn the other cheek).
This also raises the issue of free choice. That doesn't exist either. The choices you make are all based on your frame of reference, this frame of reference is based on stimuli you will have received over the course of your life from myriad sources (parents, TV, religion, magazines, books, friends, school, radio, being burned, being stung, the list is infinite).
I once asked a tribal elder of Terena Tribe that if he could choose anything - anything - that he could possibly dream of, what would it be? He said that he would choose a better medicine man (laughter ensued).
I once also asked a man in Downtown L.A. the same question. He said he'd choose to have a million bucks.
What do these both have in common? They both chose things from within their known frame of reference. The Tribal Elder is completely unable to choose to own a BMW, or a million bucks, or a $40,000 executive position at Google because he has no concept of these things and, therefore, they are outside of his frame of reference. His choices, therefore, cannot be free choices, they are determined by his known frame of reference. The same is true of the man from downtown L.A. and the same is true for you.
So far as I know, there doesn't appear to be any evidence for free-will.
Free will, in this case, means action without cause. But everything seems to be caused by something. I reject the idea, however, that it's all determined since the beginning of time - that seems like metaphysical nonsense.
Human beings are responding organisms (like all others). We respond to stimuli. If you get stung by a plant, your brain memorises the configuration of that plant and when you see it again, you won't touch it. You'll even warn others not to touch it. But without the stimuli of being stung in the first place, you can't manifest the reaction of warning others not to touch it - you have no basis to do so. This is the very basic form upon which stimuli/reaction take place.
But there are a few things that will trip you up when studying it. The most common is that if a human being encounters the same stimuli twice, it may not manifest the same reaction twice.
If you slap someone in the face (stimuli) they may say 'Ow, what was that for?' (reaction). If you slap them in the face again (identical stimuli) they may slap you back (different reaction). This isn't a certainty, though. They may, for example, hit you back the first time if they had received certain stimuli in the past (i.e. being taught to fight back) or they may not slap you back a second time (i.e. being taught to turn the other cheek).
This also raises the issue of free choice. That doesn't exist either. The choices you make are all based on your frame of reference, this frame of reference is based on stimuli you will have received over the course of your life from myriad sources (parents, TV, religion, magazines, books, friends, school, radio, being burned, being stung, the list is infinite).
I once asked a tribal elder of Terena Tribe that if he could choose anything - anything - that he could possibly dream of, what would it be? He said that he would choose a better medicine man (laughter ensued).
I once also asked a man in Downtown L.A. the same question. He said he'd choose to have a million bucks.
What do these both have in common? They both chose things from within their known frame of reference. The Tribal Elder is completely unable to choose to own a BMW, or a million bucks, or a $40,000 executive position at Google because he has no concept of these things and, therefore, they are outside of his frame of reference. His choices, therefore, cannot be free choices, they are determined by his known frame of reference. The same is true of the man from downtown L.A. and the same is true for you.
