Is There Such A Thing As Free Will ?

[Maxel]

?

[ToraToraTora]

yep.

[Buenchico]

If there isn't, you could never prosecute anyone for any crime, as they could always legitimately say "I've got no free will, so I can't be held responsible for my actions".

[Theland]

Yes.

[Hopkirk]

Well I didn't have to pay for mine, but my wife's mirror will was chargeable.

[shoota]

Wasn't there a film about it?

[jno]

perhaps you shouldn't have paid that, on reflection, Hopkirk?

[Hopkirk]

Nice one, Jno.

[emmie]

of course there is.

[dannyk13]

Yes, of course there is free will:-
FREE WILL
//the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.//

[mibn2cweus]

//Is There Such A Thing As Free Will ?//

You had to ask.

[woofgang]

well there was the movie about the whale......the one that caused confusion.....

[naomi24]

Maxel, you've asked some in depth-questions since you arrived a day or so ago but I can't see any responses from you. What's your opinion on the questions you've asked and what is your purpose for asking them?

[roadman]

depends if u can thing for urself

[roadman]

think*

[Atheist]

This is a very difficult question to answer. If all events, say at the atomic level, are caused by preceding events, then it seems to follow that all the atoms in the brain are simply moving in response to earlier atomic movements and are thus not in the control of the brain of which they form part. Laplace said that if atomic movements are all controlled by ealier movements, then if the position and other physical properties of all the atoms in the universe could be measured, then the future of the universe could be predicted; hence no free will.
However, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says that the position and momentum of a particle cannot in principle be measured with precision, so Laplace's prediction could not be possible.
I imagine Theland would be interested in this stuff, as it could be said to fit in with his first cause belief. I don't think that first cause could be used to support free will, since after the first cause everything else could be a simple consequence of God's will and thus inevitable. There would need to be some 'mechanism' whereby non-physical 'mind-stuff' could exert an influence on physical things.

[EdmundD]

Don't know, can't decide......

[Atheist]

"Do I believe in free will? I have no option!" Christopher Hitchens.

[archibaldy]

I don't believe there is no, however it does feel to us like we have free will, so we have to act like we do, and that everyone else does.

On the physical level of the atoms in our bodies everything is a result of some previous action. We are not in control of our next thought and the emotion it makes us feel, whether we find something funny or not, or even whether you believe what I'm writing or not. Free will is an illusion in my opinion 'we' are passengers with a trick of consciousness making us feel like we are the driver.

[Atheist]

Archi... how do you then get over the issue of whether or not people are responsible for their actions and should be censured by other people?

[archibaldy]

You make it sound like the 'other people' have a choice whether to censure or not ;)