Do we have free will?

[sunnysidedown]

Feel free to explain your definition of free will and your thought process behind whether we have it or not.

 

[Gal1ctic]

My definition of free will is a "self" in control of their actions. I don't think this is possible for any being. Maybe some concept I couldn't understand beyond our dimension. Maybe they could come up with a possible free will. For me, there is no such thing as a self, only circumstance filtered through evolutionary code. Nothing else

 

[Matchaaa]

I believe there is still a sense of free will, but it is bound up with biological instincts.

 

[bellaisdonewithlife]

I don't know man. You can't choose what you look like, your genetics, the family you're born into, where you're born/who you grow up with. It feels to me like free will is very limited.

You could be born into a rich family or a family with connections and have a ton of success, or you could be born into a poor family with no connections.

I have an extreme case where I can see how limited any free will really is. Depending on what physical or mental limitations/issues you have, it can really reduce your free will.

Also, where do thoughts come from? I should've started with this because if thoughts are purely brain chemistry, then maybe there isn't any free will at all. I'm just stuck in this body and there's nothing I can do.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Ultimately- I would say 'yes', although I tie myself up in knots with this question. I would say we are highly limited and highly influenced by our genes, upbringing, experience in life. So- we likely have a very high probability of making certain choices.

That said, I think the ultimate decision is down to us. I think my dislike of determinism is because it removes accountability- if we are to believe that bad actions are inevitable. That criminals had no control over themselves or their actions- it was written in the stars that they would grow up to rape and murder.

Instead- I would tend to argue that- even though a person may be very prone to having certain traits- even those considered negative- a violent temper, compulsions to hurt others. Maybe they have been raised with a disregard towards authority and rules too.

Still- I imagine most people do have some sort of sense of right and wrong. Criminals also demonstrate that they realise their actions are prohibited when they intricately plan how to do them and not get caught.

So- I tend to think most people have multiple choices available to them and that they choose to act on the one that best suits them- even if they are fully aware that it's wrong sometimes.

Ultimately I suppose- I don't think we are destined to pick certain choices. I think we guide ourselves depending which part of ourselves we act upon. I think probability plays a part. I imagine we can be far more likely to make certain choices but I still think the final choice is ours. That's my feeling anyway.

Partly I think because life is made up of billions of decisions. Take my day ahead. I know what I should be doing with it. I should get up, washed and dressed- now actually. I should put in effort to catch up on all the domestic chores I've let slip. I should eat at regular times and make healthy choices. I should exercise.

I simply don't believe that all of those choices are predestined. It will be very much up to me- whether I do what I know I should or, whethet I spend yet another day doom scrolling and playing games. It's far more tempting and likely that I'll choose the latter but then- I also know I can't keep letting myself slide. It's up to me ultimately- which part of me I act with. The nihilistic, suicidal part who doesn't care about anything, or the practical, worried part that knows I need to pull myself out of this slump.

 

[Shiitake]

Im not a doom and gloomer, but we objectivelly dont have free will,
the issue is that you cant tell really.
Its a composition of complex genetics and where you're born.
people seeing their family get bombed all day are conditioned for survival whilst the common folks in rich countries struggle with holding their life together after being in a violent crime
its conditioning.
Most of us are suicidal and miserable cause society is becoming more and more detached.

I don't know man. You can't choose what you look like, your genetics, the family you're born into, where you're born/who you grow up with. It feels to me like free will is very limited.

You could be born into a rich family or a family with connections and have a ton of success, or you could be born into a poor family with no connections.

I have an extreme case where I can see how limited any free will really is. Depending on what physical or mental limitations/issues you have, it can really reduce your free will.

Also, where do thoughts come from? I should've started with this because if thoughts are purely brain chemistry, then maybe there isn't any free will at all. I'm just stuck in this body and there's nothing I can do.

only possible free will is if you contract mania and decide to skydive on a whim. even then you need money. and its already in your nature to be manic

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

From a physical point of view the universe including us is completely determined, like a big cellular automatum or a block universe. In the end humans are nothing but machines, and if I had to design a machine with a free will, I would not know how to start.

 

[HopelessScientist]

Feel free to explain your definition of free will and your thought process behind whether we have it or not.

I feel like my love for cognitive and behavioural science, as well as neuroscience really stems from us not having free will. How easily we are influenced, how little we know of what actually goes on in our minds, how unreliable of narrators we are, etc.

Our minds are a mystery, even our own, and that's why I love neuroscience.

I believe in a will, but I do not believe it is free. For will to be free, we'd have to break physics to change our environment and genetics, but that still wouldn't be free as we were already influenced to do that. I 100% believe behaviour = environment + genetics. I won't say much about my work, but I did research in a very relevant area...