Do humans have free will?

[AbbathTheGrim]

Jay520 said:

AbbathTheGrim said:

Jay520 said:

Level1Death said:

Jay520 said:
I personally don't think humans have free will. I believe humans actually lack the ability to 'decide' their actions. Sure, humans appear to make their decisions, but one has to realise that every 'decision' we make is based upon our experience of the world, which is based upon external factors which we have no control over.

One person's brain is composed of the same atoms as any other person. Barring any genetic mutations, which are uncontrollable anyway, humans are more or less born with the same state of mind. The difference in each individual is caused by the unique 'experience' that each individual goes through.

We make decisions based on what we know. Our knowledge originates from external stimuli. Our brains are clouded by our limited perspective of the world. We don't choose what we percieve. We just percieve what we come across. These perceptions are then combined with other perceptions & innate instincts and our brains uses those [external] factors to form what we call 'decisions'.

With all that said, I can confidently say that every choice/decision is absolutely determined by factors out of our control. If if we have do have some control over our decisions, which we don't, one cannot deny the presence external stimuli as a large factor in affecting our choices in life, thus, affecting our personality.

Thoughts?

So if I wanted to kill some one, I could just blame it on factors out of my control?

Sure I'd say a series of experiences eventually filled your brain with intense hate (or whatever motive you have) of a person. Then, based on your willpower, which I'd also say people don't control, you may or may not kill that person.

Well, that's my opinion of course. Just wondering what others believe. I'm perfectly okay with being wrong.

What would exist there if no environment and biological output would exist? Do you think that a personality could exist without any of those two?

The fact that I can decide whether I post this comment before or after I go to the bathroom proves that there is a will I can decide to exercise or not.

If you have been thinking about existencialism and how we are driven to take choices based in predetermined factors, I think that even there we have options. If you are thinking about an existence were only what we desire to see, feel, imagine, etc. exists, that will be a good trip for you, but beyond some psychodelic work of fiction material, I don't see much you will be able to get from that.

That's what I'm saying. If a person's personality is completely dependent upon those factors, then what makes any person different from another?

When we make decisions, are we 'making' decisions, or are our brains just performing outputs based upon external stimuli that any other human would make when met with the same circumstances? Did you choose to post a comment or is your brain simply apart of a strict function with no possible way of performing a different output? Well, of course you chose to post the comment because your want to post overcame your need to use the restroom. But do you ultimately control your want to post or need to go to the restroom?

I don't know where I'm going with this, I just thought it was an interesting topic & was interested in others' opinions

We only make do of options from what we have and what we can do or have control of. If there wouldn't exist anything that could control us or predetermine some aspects of our life, would there be anything there at all? I mean, how can there be a free will without options, how can there be options without choices that have been narrowed down by the circunstances? How would I be faced with the option of going to the bathroom or not if I wouldn't feel the need to go take a leak?

Having an absolute freedom would mean everyone creating their own reality, but how can someone create something out of nothing? That is why I cannot conceive a god(s) creating everything off his sleeve. Even the Christian god, the thing for Christianity goes something like god created us in part (I think they claim the truth or complete truth has not been revealed) because of love. I ask myself, maybe that love was loneliness? He created us out of His image because his own image is what He knew? I am playing here with the idea that this god exists. So even that god would be bound to feelings of need that came out of something and, regardless of the fact that we don't know the nature of his being, it could be some feeling inherent to his existence and He created us because of a need converted to desire and taking the image of what He knew. This is some sweet stuff isn't it?

The thing is that we are here and we use what we know to explain things around us. We can only imagine things that are not part of our reality, but even then again we use things we already know to even imagine a different existence

Don't mind doing that, throwing some random idea over the Internet. That is part of what makes the Internet so awesome, confronting a premature idea to different people and see where they take it, can save time and even provide a different outlook.