Do you believe in free will?

[rorymac]

I believe in it entirely. Ive shaped my life off of it. Destiny is a belief of defeatists. The connection to morality that usually goes along with this debate is self explanatory. If you choose to murder somebody than you chose that action. If you choose to work for min wage and just get by you chose that path. If you choose to be faithful to your wife than you made a moral choice. If you chose to cheat on her then you made an immoral choice. I believe in morality as a choice as well. It goes back to free will. I am responsible for my actions.

What is driving you to make those choices? Something supernatural?

[Canelo Phresh]

What is driving you to make those choices? Something supernatural?

Your aiming at the the drive of my choices to see if theyres a foundation in religion or politics or science etc? Myself. I was taught chaos by my family. I chose to follow order. Erratic behaviour was common place from my parents so I knew I didnt want that life. Stability was all Ive ever wanted. I still maintain grade school friendships and trust those friends. Did the ladiesman thing but I wanted a clean house and food on the table when I came home so I wifed up a latina broad. I want to offer my son stability and boundaries. Sure he'll probably rebel and think punk rock makes sense but thats his choice when that time comes.

[D-MiZe]

Does anyone believe God to have free-will?

[Null]

Let me put forward a theory of mine that I subsequently found out had been expressed by Pierre-Simon Laplace:



Can this be applied to human will?

This is known as Laplace's demon and has been disproved by quantum mechanics, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and chaos theory. I don't know what any of those are, really. I use to think along those same lines, but apparently not all information can be attained. Therefore, if the Universe has free will, in that we cannot predict how it will act at some levels, I guess I have free will, as well, since I am a part of the Universe. I like to think the little voice in our head, reason, has something to do with free will, in that it inhibits free will.

[winky's right]

^chance isn't free will. it's like going to the cinemas and deciding the movie to watch based on some random (quantum) chance generating device. just because it's impossible to predict which movie will be chosen, does not imply you had free will when making the decision

[WARQUEZ]

I believe very much in free will. I feel like I must, I feel if I don't I'm just creating an excuse for all the bad/good I've done in my life. I don't want my life to be based off an excuse. My life was given to me by chance, everything I did with it wasn't.

[New England]

i believe in my left hook and my chin.

[rorymac]

I don't know myself. I'm not a defeatist, or someone who needs to find an excuse for their actions, but I find causal determinism quite logical. I just don't know, though.

[Barn]

I was discussing this with a friend today.

It was a few years ago I once thought about this, when ADHD was said to be caused by a "chemical imbalance" in the brain. It made me think, if the brain can be governed by chemical imbalances to cause mental issues, then what's to say everything we do is the result of chemical and other reactions in our brain?

[chav]

Since as far back as i can remember I've always been very independent and wanted to be able to be in control of my own destiny. I remember figuring out that with money, i could make choices, but in order to get that money i had to satisfy someone else.
I remember being asked a question in school when i was real young about what we wanted to do when we grew up and i said i wanted to have my own company, i didnt know doing what, but i knew why i wanted it, so that no one could tell me what to do and when to do it. (although that still doesnt always work as planned )

I believe i'm fully in control of my life, i make the decisions and the outcomes follow based on a plan and a goal and sticking to them. I dont believe in pre-determined destiny, i believe you make and live by your choices in the main.