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Here's one born of the "What does the future hold" Thread.

Do we as people have free will or are we do we merely go through the actions of our daily lives as part of some instinct? That is, do we actually have the free will to think about our actions, or are we just doing what we do to surive?

I believe in free will. Yes, we do what we do to survive, but there are many ways to go about that. We choose our paths.

I am not really sure this is the place for this thread.

But I think that we have the free will to be who we want to be and do what we want to do.

To me, through all my religious education free will is God giving you the right to choose between right and wrong and then you end up in Heaven or hell, depending on your choices..... It's us doing what we think is best for our survival.

I think every one has free will, they just have different ways to exercise it.

But do we actually have the free will to do what we want, or are our choices already made for us by a higher force?

I'm still trying to figure that out myself.

No we make our own choices as we go. I do not believe we are puppets being controlled by something else.

If our choices were pre-destined by a higher being, I don't think the world would be such a destructive and vile place.

I believe we have the free will to do as we wish but God knows how it will turn out.
This leads me to wonder however..... why would He even create those whom he knows will do harm?

What Gregory says is very true. I don't believe that we could be controlled if something tried honestly. I mean I think if we were then the world would be more like a utopia.

This is a good point, if the world were run by a Benevolent God who truly wished us no harm, then the world would be more uptopian. However, one theory that was discussed in my Philosophy class in college is that what if God isn't so benevolent? What if God is like a michevous kid with an ant farm is just seeing what would happen if he set a destructive race loose on the world?

Now, my personal oppinion is that God is a "good" God and that he gave us all free will, the above is just another theory meant to make everyone think.

Your free will is g iven to you from the day you were born for this I believe

I believe it may very well be a combination of both.

I do not believe in heaven or hell and I do not believe in your god. I believe my goddess and god live in everything and everything should be treated as divine.

i belive that yes we have free will but it altmently leads to the same end

Fair enough, you are as entitled to your beliefs as anyone.

SonofLoki, so you're saying that we have free will, but we're doomed to the same fate anyway no matter what we do?

Yes so I don't believe that you can be controlled and have a preset life.

If that's true, then what is the point of free will?

So you can live your life the way you want to and make the mistakes and good choices that you want. To have fun.

Perhaps that's really the meaning of life. Just to live, make mistakes, and enjoy the ride.

It very well could be. But just because you think there is a meaning that may not really be the only meaning to it. I believe that life should be treated as divine as should everything else.

I believe that we have free will to make our own choices. And those choices are what takes us or leads us to the path that we will follow. The choices that we make can make or break us. I can't stop someone from doing what they want to do no more than anyone can. Thus, gives us all free will.

So basically you're saying that life is too important and devine to break down into a simple meaning. Am I correct?

I do not honestly believe that there is such a simple meaning. Life isn't simple. Choices aren't simple. The outcomes are not always simple. So how can life have a simple meaning unless you just say you are born, live and then die.

im not saying where doomed at all but we are all ment to die in the in its not what happens at the end of your live its what we do during it

as for what happens afterwars is for a difrent thread

Well, in the end those are the things that everyone has in common no matter who you are. You are born, you live, then you die. It is differences in peoples' lives that are so complicated. Is it then fair to say that each person's life has a different meaning?

It's my pleasure. I am not sure that many will or will not agree with me, but that is my outlook on it.

No that isn't what I am saying. I am saying that everything is divine rain, trees, grass, everything is divine and should be treated as such. Maybe it shouldn't be broken down.

Everyone's life is something different therefore has a different meaning. I am not here for the same reason you are nor or you here for the same reason I am. Everyone has their own belifs in why and how they got here, but I think most people will agree it's for their own reasons of living.

lost kitten i think your right choices are'nt that simple and every one of are actions that we use are free will to make will effect the universe around us

Cool. Thanks to the both of you for well thought out posts.

Well I believe we live our own lives and make our own choices whether they be good or bad. We live the way we want and nothing more or less. We are not puppets waiting to be controlled.

Glad I could be of some help. But you must remember, others have very good outlooks on this subject as well. I live and learn, that's all any of us can really do.

That is very true.

I agree with you VampiressRosalie. We are not puppets on strings that is controlled by someone. We have the right to chose good or bad.

And I agree. The reason I posted this thread wasn't to try to convince anyone otherwise, but just to make people think. In the end that's really the point of philosophy, to make people think and excercise our brains.

I know you weren't trying to convince people otherwise. Afterall, that's part of the free will. We chose to believe what we want and then we live with our actions and choices. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. I think you made an excellent thread.

Yeah most aren't trying to convince people differently. Because no matter how hard you try you cannot change someone.

I'd have to disagree with you there. It is possible to influence and change someone elses opinion. It can be difficult to do sometimes, but it can be done.

It can be done, but that again would be of their own free will. They can choose to believe you or to not believe you. It all goes back to the free will thing.

I think that both are true. We are all born with instinct and so of course that is going to be a part of our decisions. Free will as well our this world would be an entirely different place.

I have to comment on the part about changing someones mind/person. Yes you can change a person, influence shows that to be true.

Well I don't really believe you can. I mean to me nobody can change my mind. It is a mind set, and once it is set then it doesn't matter.

That's what I was trying to get at VampiressRosalie. It's your free will to not change your mind as it would be if you wanted to change your mind.
Simply, free will makes lets you decide if you want to have an open mind to others opinions or if you believe in yours and that's it.
Either way isn't wrong. Not in my opinion.

There are plenty of people who believe in fate or a divine plan for all of us. If it were the case that our lives were scripted from the very beginning, we would never know that our life was absent of free will.

Only close minded people can say that no one else has ever changed their mind, if you are open minded and at least are willing to look at someone elses point of view then that is something, it doesn't have to mean that you agree just that you are willing to consider and look at all points of view. I for one have been influenced enough to have changed my opinion about many things, learning plays a big part of that.

B.F. Skinner argued that there was no such thing as free will:

"In the traditional view, a person is free. He is autonomous in the sense that his behavior is uncaused. He can therefore be held responsible for what he does and justly punished if he offends. That view, together with its associated practices, must be re-examined when a scientific analysis reveals unsuspected controlling relations between behavior and environment."

Beyond Freedom and Dignity

I agree with BM, I think free will can’t really be looked at in isolation and that it needs to be addressed within the context of the relationship between individuals and society. As much as we like to imagine we practice free will and free reign over our lives and future plans, social constraints play a huge part in enabling this to happen and indeed highlights how we are influenced directly and indirectly by society.

We are all influenced from the moment we are born and learned behavior plays a big role in how we act and behave throughout our lives. I’m not sure that we do have free will and I think that it could be deemed a romantic notion as opposed to something that we daily practice. I believe we have ‘choice’ and with every choice we make within life, there are always consequences good or bad. As individuals we are expected to conform to societal ‘norms’ and deviation from this means consequences that can dictate and impact hugely upon or lives through labeling, stigma, discrimination, oppression and indeed having our freedom revoked by law and order. So really, how free is our free will when its looked at within the grand scheme of things?

Heh .. I guess I do believe we have free will to do whatever.

Simply because I don't think a person has an instinct to be randon, or in the case of a murderer, to kill. Et cetera...

Actually, I do believe murder could have been an instinctual thing at some point. Killing off competition for a food source for example.

i think we have what we believe t obe free will. wether any of it is linked to instinct i wouldnt know.

Very well said miniminx. But with that 'limited' free we get civil people and a safe world.

ND -

I'm not referring for such as a food source. But just plain murder.

Brava, miniminx. Never heard Skinner explained better.

i think we choose the paths we go down and how we go down them

But how do we choose? What is it that helps us make that choice?

I think that its vital to reflect upon that and ensure our decisions are made through informed choice :)

Everyone has free will to do what they wish,I dun believe anyone has it in them to do what it takes to survive,everyone makes choices whether they are good or bad,it is their own choice

Everyone has free will, but how they use it depends on the kinds of situations they encounter.

We all have the free will to do as we please in this life, within reason of course.
It's how we choose to use it that will differ from person to person.
Some may choose to cast it into the wind and live by set rules given to them by following a certain way of life.

And in doing that then they accept the consequences and need to take ownership of their choice as a result. But realistically is anything in life really free? Is there not always a price to be paid somewhere down the line?

Prices will be paid somewhere somehow. The choice is free....free will, but the consequences of your actions good or bad are not. You may pay a good price or a bad price. Just depends on which path or choice you make. But ultimately, the choice is yours and it is free.

Yes, in many ways I guess there is a price to be paid for living, but in saying that, that doesn't mean that we can't choose which road we take to get to the toll booth of an action.

Each of us live different lives, some choose to live a certain way while others are made to live another, but that is their choice, their free will to live and do as they please

i used to think we had free will though our english government is m,aking sure that we dont have any say in life in general. give it time. we will all be fucking robots

LMAO I hear ya Tattood :)

One of my favorite threads to discuss when it comes up...

One possible approach is that our future lives are executed by following a series of paths that are preset, but the passing from one branch to the next is determined as decision points where we execute our free will.

Also, free will is yours, and completely yours, until you decide to succumb your free will to another. At the point, some one else chooses your path, since you have made your last choice.

NephliteDarkside maybe we do both ... and survive at thr same time..

I believe in free will. Human nature is to survive and it’s the survival of the fittest. To not have free will would void the thought of survival of the fittest. If you do not have the free will to change the path you’re on and it is already planned out, then regardless of who’s the strongest only certain ones will survive. Instead we adapt and overcome through our own free will.

i believe in free will

As long as laws exist, we will never have free will. There will always be someone or something stopping us from having complete free will.

and that means deadair that some one stoped you from makeing that post but its there so no one stoped you and your free will that let you post

yes i think we all have free will. i want and have full controle over my life

yes we have free will to the point the law allows us.

Both. We usually have a daily routine that falls into instinct but then we can change that routine due to free will.

I don't believe that the law can stop us my favorite quote is this and it is from V for Vendetta "people shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people." To me that is so very true. We could make a riot and take over everything and they couldn't really do anything about it because we as people are more then the government.

Of coures we have free will.
We chose our own actions. There is alot od instinct that we follow to survive but, in teh end we chose our destination

That is true we do chose our destination. There is no way that we are controlled by something greater to me the world would not be in the condition it is in right now. It would be more of a utopia and not all the killing and everything. The government and president is what is making this world chaotic because they are rising the price on everything right now for taxes on each paycheck we give this much 48.5% almost half it isn't all taken out at once, but that is the truth. I believe things will get a lot worse before they begin to get better.

We have free will...maybe it seems to some we don't because of the routines some have but that is made by you. From childhood things change and are scheduled its a habit not a force. It just makes things easier.

i'd say both also , but more of free will .

there is no such thing as a free will cause at the cost of that free will as u all call it we lose something very special to us so how does that make it free will if something lose is the cost of it?

I believe there is no true free will as long one is limited to a choice, wich is usualy consistent of two, of duality, of positive or negative, of going left or going right, of suitable or nonsuitable. One is usualy forced to bring a decision out of two given options(or more possible choices/outcomes, but wich are still being sorted under one or other side of duality). One might think that the free will is attained, and you have it, if the choice is positive, in ones favor, if it suits. But that is the illusion, beacuse one is still influenced by the river-flow of events/circumstances under a certain choice. As long as that exists the true free will is never attained, wich should be a non neccesity to fracture ones being with choices, but to keep one self from bringing one, and staying in a state of omnipotence, unaffected by a choice, not to need to, but still stay, unaffected by the Stream and its meanings wich varie in their duality. Thats free will. Something like a free state noninfluenced by any lesser activity/choice/i must/no must, so fort....

SonOfLoki, For this post that is true, but several of my other post/threads have been stopped. I have the free will to post, but there will always be some one higher to kill it!

free will is something we all have..

yes we have free will...
but its limited by the ammount of possible decisions we can make.

no i belive that you do your own will but i belive that life is like a tree branch you can follow your own path but your path can split off and lead you to new things but you act of instinct absolutely not.

I believe in free will.

I think we live day to day on a number of things.. instinct plays a large role, habits, and things that bring you pleasure.

I believe we have free will to do what we wish, it is how we go about it or chose to deal with that free will that makes the difference in our destiny.

I believe we can choose to do as we wish and our paths may even be constantly changing but God knows where we will end up.

I believe that our free will exists only to the extent of the knowledge we possess. Adam and Eve had no free will until they ate of the tree of knowledge, thus, our actions are dictated by the information we have learned from others.

Yes law and government can limit our free will, but does it diminish or destroy it? One still has the choice to go against their respective governments, and many do.

i believe we have Free Will if we watch what we say lol

I think Rush wrote a song about this.

I will go with Geddy Lee for $100, Alex.

Is it free will or is it what we think as free will and actually or guided by others to think its free will but determined by them. I do believe in free will yet this always seems the case when i study others .

PrincessaButterfly that’s a quote worth remembering, I loved it :)


Diminish? Maybe.
Destroy? Strong statement and no not where I come from.

Government and legislation act merely as agents that moderate and dare I say control our level of ‘free will’. They serve to protect society as a whole as its impossible to address each individual exclusively. So law and government aside, is free will not determined ethically and morally then? Is our personal value base, sense of responsibility and self control not brought to question then?

I know that as humans we prefer to think we are able to make choices and decisions based upon our uniqueness, but the reality is, there is no escape from the social system in which we all live. Social constraints will always prevail and if its not the government then its class, gender, status and the list goes on and on … our personal, cultural and structural systems are all interlinked. We may well have free will in our minds, but do we really have it in our actions?

I believe in free will. I believe that everyone makes their own choices and does things that they want to.

I think we all have the free will! To make our own choices! Do I believe like some others think that our path is predetermined? In a way yes but I think our choices affect our path and our choice are made of free will!

I believe everyone has free will. It is a matter of whether the individual wishes to exert their will or not. Your choices show you the path you follow.

I believe we do have free will

I agree with the previous posts that we do have free will, but I believe as well that that free will is not absolute, in that way in wich we live our lives and are limited with choices by making the decisions wich are allowing us to very slowly slipp trough life, always being limited with the imperfection of that choice.

This thread has been automatically closed for length.