Free will is the idea that people choose their actions, and that they aren't forced into choosing their actions by anything but their own mind. I personally believe that every person has free-will because if I didn't then I would have to accept the premise that everything is either predetermined by G-d or that the universe is nothing more than a bunch of molecules interacting with one another--two of the competing ideas to free-will. From a religious perspective, free-will must exist because it is the essence of why people were put on this Earth by G-d. This world is a test to see how we behave when put in tough situations in this imperfect world. The fact that it is a test says that we have the possibility of failing, meaning that we have the ability to choose our outcome in life and whether or not we fail this test. Outside of religion, it would be hard to accept the idea that free-will does not exist because that would mean that there is seemingly no purpose to life. Just from a logical perspective, if we don't control our actions or their outcomes, then there is no purpose for us other than to survive, just like animals. If this were true then every person would give in to their base feelings and would live their lives as selfish beings. We know that this isn't the case because most people aren't selfishly living their lives and think about others all of the time, or at least most people believe this to be true. And, if this idea that people aren't just selfish creatures is true then that would prove that there is free-will, allowing people to have a moral compass and not just be selfishly living their lives. It is impossible to know for certain whether or not people have free-will, but I think that every person should at least believe that they are acting based on their own will so that they feel that they have a purpose in life, because if there is no free-will, and a person specifically believes that the world is just a bunch of molecules interacting with one another then that would paint a very groom vision of what goes on in the world, and people would feel depressed in their lack of purpose on this planet. What do you think about free-will? And, if you disagree with anything that I said, clarify your point of view.
I feel that people should have free-will and that people have the ability to choose their own actions. No matter how you are brought up, once you are old enough to think your own thoughts, you should be able to think and make decisions on your own.
ReplyDeleteHi Isaac,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned a moral compass, which Iv'e been thinking about in relation to free will. We do good things because being nice gives us a good feeling. If being nice to people made us feel horrible, we wouldn't do it. So even when we are being nice of our own free will, are we really?
I have thought about this topic before, and it's a bit complicated to me. I think that we do have some sort of free will and the ability to choose in order to get onto the life path we are currently on. I also believe that society has made many people feel like they are living just to survive like you said. There are routine things that society has made seem necessary, or there are situations where people may not have the complete free will to choose.
ReplyDeleteHi Issac,
ReplyDeleteI really love this blog, and it gets me thinking. I feel that we as humans have free will in a sense, but the way our society is built is kind of restricting to me. We are all living along the same path, but we have the free will to determine our path. It's kind of like "fake free will" if that makes sense. Anyways, I could talk about this for along time, but theres my perspective in a nutshell.
Hi Isaac,
ReplyDeleteI think we have free will in a way, but there is also people who believe that our lives are pre written meaning we do not make the decisions for ourselves. As if there is a higher power that is controlling our decisions. It is weird to think about because there is a saying everything happens for a reason and I wonder where this falls into everything. This topic really is weird to think about.
To me this topic is somewhat straightforward. I believe in sentience, instead of the idea of free wil. I believe that Free will is just the entirety of millions of years of evolution, making us aware that we exist. With that being said I don'y believe in predertmined fates, but I do like to things happen for a reason. I thouroughly enjoyed your post though. Definite food for thought.
ReplyDelete