Philosophy Now Forum

Are you free? Can any human being truly be free? Why or why not?

There is no 'free' (unrestrained) will, but there is 'will'.

Go look in a mirror.

R2D2 wrote:Are you free? Can any human being truly be free? Why or why not?

You say you are just starting out studying philosophy.

This is a massive topic and require a lot of reading. If I were you, I'd start out looking and determinism, specifically hard determinism. Hard determinism is an argument for there being no free will. I would think your next step would be David Hume's argument for compatibilism. The idea of compatibilism is that we are determined to some extent, but there also exists an element of free will.

First year courses usually address the question of compatibility in relation to determinism. In other words, are these ideas contradictory? Another compatibillist thinker in a first year course would probably be William James.

Compatibilism sometimes goes by the name of, 'soft determinism'. Hard determinism is different and would be the best place to start.

Nobody's free, though many believe they are, or pretend to be, or think they want to be and fight for their right to be. There are more ways to be restrained, constrained, committed, obliged, indebted, directed, led, manipulated and influenced than we know about.

None of which particularly matters, because we can't change the causes that brought us to this moment. We do experience "free will" (that is, feel that we have the ability to form our own intentions, if not the ability to act upon them) even if it's illusory. So we have no choice but to behave as if our volition were entirely our own - especially since a huge social and legal structure will hold us responsible for whatever do, whether we could have acted differently or not.

What you can, perhaps, do, is examine the factors which limit your freedom of intention and try to eliminate or diminish the obstacles you can identify.

Thank you Ginkgo and Skip

These are Q's from my online class that I need to respond to. We are reading from

Doing Philosophy: An introduction through thought experiments

I have studied all the concepts and terminology but I am more into Tom Campbell, Rudy Tanzi and Deepak Chopra...

I need to tie in in somehow to textbook theories and compare and contrast.

Thought experiment:
How long can you go without making a decision?

Skip wrote:Thought experiment:
How long can you go without making a decision?

until you get blamed for something

-Imp

This was answerd like 80 years ago, yet cozy chatters ask it over and over, since they never research, but sits like kuku hatchlings and demands other people to serve the answers, why cozy chatters are ALWAYS glaringly ignorent.

Does your (free) will let you believe in free will?
Chose between two things, and wonder why..
Chose between your left and right toe, and wonder why you dont know what to choose..
Why are you wondering why?
What is the difference between your first 'thought' and your 'conclusion'?

Out of so many possibilities only one is actual. It may be, because all the energy expanded and had no other 'choice' than to go that way it did, due to the laws of physics. Like dropping a ball in the exact same conditions will not have a different result, is it the weather that seems unpredictable?

In the end, it doesn't matter. It is what it is, like it was what it was and will be what it will be, only one possible actuality, regardless of any-ones opinion.


"I, at any rate, am convinced that 'He' does not throw dice."
"As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world."

- Albert Einstein

But then again, even he changed his opinion regarding some things.


"Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Just like knowledge doesn't change a thing.

Hope it helped

There is no free will; we are prisoners of our institutions.

I really like both comments from perceiving exists and bobevenson!

Thank you...It really helps me to put my words to paper for my upcoming essays

@bobevenson....you are spot on....unfortunately

@ perceiving exists....I agree with you....and I think it's a combination of

nature/nurture, laws and institution, quantum physics and consciousness being the major player.

We live in a very exciting time for new discoveries...maybe one day the "hard problem can be solved."

R2D2 wrote:We live in a very exciting time for new discoveries..

So did those who 'invented' the wheel. Same goes for those who discovered fire, 'pen and paper', and so on..


"There are no problems, only solutions."
"Love is the answer, what was the question?"
"Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow."

- John Lennon.

bobevenson wrote:There is no free will; we are prisoners of our institutions.

Even tho my unconscious (feelings) and conscious (thoughts) might not always 'agree', saying there is no free will is the lamest excuse if you dont want to take responsibility for anything, so i have to disagree. Mind over matter. Love over gold

Yes they were....it is amazing to me how so many great thinkers like Socrates, Confucius, Lao tzu....
were far beyond their years.

And I am the biggest fan of Lennon.....we are kindred spirits
He was a revolutionary.....It was said that the day they appeared on Ed Sullivan... for the hour of the show no crime occurred. Many think they were prophets....Jim Morrison was another great thinker and poet...

Perceiving exists. wrote:

bobevenson wrote:There is no free will; we are prisoners of our institutions.

Even tho my unconscious (feelings) and conscious (thoughts) might not always 'agree', saying there is no free will is the easiest excuse if you dont want to take responsibility for anything, so i have to disagree. Mind over matter. Love over gold

I base my statement on the Church of Ouzo website (http://church-of-ouzo.com) "The pathway of evil in every society flows through an institutional grid of religious, cultural and social values," and "The Ouzo Prophecy," "The evil that lurks in the minds of men is manifested in the collective evil of the beast. Understand the man and you cannot be deceived by his institutions."

I really liked the catcher in the rye, and find it sad how (and why even sadder..) Lennon got shot by 'i'm not gonna mention his name' despite his weakened mental health which caused his different view towards Lennon.

Good luck with your stuff you want to do, or must you do it?