(March 13, 2009 at 11:06 pm)athoughtfulman Wrote: To have free will, wouldn't we have to be able to do absolutely anything? Like fly, turn into a tiger, create a universe? Because right now, no matter how much I want to do something like that, I can't. I simply don't have the freedom to do that.*facepalm*
Sorry, but I can't believe I'm reading that. Here is a definition of free will for you:
1) free and independent choice; voluntary decision: You took on the responsibility of your own free will.
2) Philosophy. the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.
Free will is about what we do, not what we want to do. Just because I want to fly like a bird and can't doesn't mean my free will doesn't exist. Free will is about whether we can make independent decisions that aren't influenced by physics. I think free will exists because physics has shown us some truly random events, and al the evidence currently points towards an indeterministic view of the universe.
The other reason is that determinism doesn't really make much sense to me. It means that all information has simply sprung out of nothing. The fact that we are having this conversation was already pre-determined at the start of all time. I think this is a completely non-nonsensical view.
I also dislike determinism for the social effects it would have. People cannot go around thinking everything is "fate" because the invariably leads to people abandoning morality because what they do "will have always happened". It's a dangerous notion.
