Do We Have Free Will?

The fact that you can meditate shows you have free will since you have the ability to notice thoughts as they come instead of being instantly carried away by them.

 

Sad to see that Icarus appears to have deleted their account. Have had some good discussions with Icarus on here.

To tie this in to my porn use. I most certainly do not have free will when it comes to porn. The worst possible approach to trying to overcome porn addiction is to try to do it through sheer will-power. Will fail every time. Even if I could, why would I want to? Trying to exercise will-power only over porn addiction is sheer torture. I have to be on guard at all times, living in a state of anxiety. And what's the best cure for that anxiety that I know? Porn. I think the will-power mindset is a bad mindset and a setup for failure.

The best (only) way to stop the porn use is to eliminate the source and the opportunity. Set up conditions so you cannot choose to PMO. I have the porn-blocker installed on my home internet network, covers my computer and playstation, the two biggest porn sources for me. Today am taking my porn-blocker password and email address and storing in my desk at work. Also using my work phone as the phone for the email account, and storing the phone at work. This way I won't have access to these things in a moment of weakness. Already the anxiety is lifting.

Free will only "counts" when the choices are hard, that is when it is tested. Experience has shown me time and time again that I lack free will. So much for the idea of free will, good riddance

 

This question is interesting and I've been thinking about it again recently. I've come to the conclusion that both sides are right in some ways and wrong in some ways. It's not a black and white answer. We have free will in some ways, and we dont in others. That seems like a pretty simple way to clear it all up.

 

Humans have consciousness and are able to make weighed decisions, therefore they have a free will. Bam- easy.

God I hate philosophy though, its a form of mental masturbation.

 

We all have the ability to use and exercise "free will", it just depends on how you use it and what your definition of that is.

Nothing is pre determined for you, unless you were born with say a disability or problem that prohibits you from functioning "normally". Even then you have the ability to choose how your life is going to go: will you find a way to rise above your issues and some how become successful? Will you go on benefits? How about turning to a life of crime because you feel your options are limited? Or as grim as it bloody well sounds, will you commit suicide when times get tough?

Some folks would claim those are just "choices" and not free will, that's just a fallacy and an excuse to complain that we have no such thing when we actually do. Our lives are made up of choices and it's up to you what you choose, nobody chooses for you unless you're in some sort of dictatorship that prohibits things.

If you can make rational decisions then you have the ability to choose something such as a different outcome to a problem or situation, which would be you exerting free will.

 

Here is a section from Nietzsche that I came across that puts the argument against free will quite nicely:

AT THE WATERFALL. In looking at a waterfall we imagine that there is freedom of will and fancy in the countless turnings, twistings, and breakings of the waves; but everything is compulsory, every movement can be mathematically calculated. So it is also with human actions; one would have to be able to calculate every single action beforehand if one were all knowing; equally so all progress of knowledge, every error, all malice. So it is also with human actions; one would have to be able to calculate every single action beforehand if one were all knowing; equally so all progress of knowledge, every error, all malice. The one who acts certainly labours under the illusion of voluntariness; if the world's wheel were to stand still for a moment and an all knowing, calculating reason were there to make use of this pause, it could foretell the future of every creature to the remotest times, and mark out every track upon which that wheel would continue to roll. The delusion of the acting agent about himself, the supposition of a free will, belongs to this mechanism which still remains to be calculated.

 

Until free will is defined, and the definition is agreed upon, all people involved are just going to be talking past each other.

 

True. I recall there was a philosopher named Isaiah Berlin who gave two definitions of "liberty", that I think is helpful. The first defines liberty as the freedom to do what one wills. The second defines liberty as the condition of being free from outside control or interference. For me, if we don't have the ability to control our own actions, then we do not have pure free will. Maybe there is a "weaker" kind of will that we have, but if that's the case then it wouldn't be totally free

 

I think we should act like we do have free will since
a. it's expected of us
b. if it's false there's no harm in pretending but the reverse is not true

 

Yeah I think that's right

 

Another thing has occurred to me looking at the brain science regarding addiction. Addiction affects the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, where all of our executive functions occur, like making judgements and decisions. Addiction severely limits these functions. It seems to me that how "free" someone's will is, depends on their brain's executive functioning, but then if it depends on the brain at all, it's not really free, in my view

But yes I agree that despite that, we can and perhaps should act as if we have free will

 

I would argue that it's not a contradiction to say that we can act as if we have free will even though our actions are actually determined. If everything is determined, then that means that this conversation we are having is also determined. We are actually having a discussion about free will. Through our discussion, causes are being introduced, including the idea of "acting as if we have free will". That idea may cause the effect in some of us to believe we can act as if we have free will, others it might not. So if everything's determined, then no, we are not actually choosing to act as if we have free will, but it doesn't mean we can't be caused to choose in such a way LOL. But no, acting as if we have free will is definitely not the same as actually having free will

 

I can do no other!

 

Actually thinking over the concept of free will again it seems that our actions at least some of them are determined by causal influences and factors such as upbringing, psychology, biology etc. so I guess I'm unsure if humans have absolute control over their actions... with every choice it either seems determined/caused by something or it seems uncaused or random like a reflex action.