Do you believe in free will ( Archived) (46)

For centuries, philosophers and theologians have almost unanimously held that civilization as we know it depends on a widespread belief in free will—and that losing this belief could be calamitous. Our codes of ethics, for example, assume that we can freely choose between right and wrong. In the Christian tradition, this is known as “moral liberty”—the capacity to discern and pursue the good, instead of merely being compelled by appetites and desires. The great Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant reaffirmed this link between freedom and goodness. If we are not free to choose, he argued, then it would make no sense to say we ought to choose the path of righteousness.

Today, the assumption of free will runs through every aspect of politics, from welfare provision to criminal law. It permeates the popular culture and underpins the American dream—the belief that anyone can make something of themselves no matter what their start in life. As Barack Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope, American “values are rooted in a basic optimism about life and a faith in free will.”

So what happens if this faith erodes?

The sciences have grown steadily bolder in their claim that all human behavior can be explained through the clockwork laws of cause and effect. This shift in perception is the continuation of an intellectual revolution that began about 150 years ago, when Charles Darwin first published On the Origin of Species. Shortly after Darwin put forth his theory of evolution, his cousin Sir Francis Galton began to draw out the implications: If we have evolved, then mental faculties like intelligence must be hereditary. But we use those faculties—which some people have to a greater degree than others—to make decisions. So our ability to choose our fate is not free, but depends on our biological inheritance.
Ref Psychology

What do the members of CS believe, what do you think, are all your actions predetermined, or do YOU have free will.



I.m interested in what you have to say??????

Honestly not really. You could lie about your favourite colour but whatever your favourite colour is it's an unalterable fact. The lie itself is not free will. It could be you all over to lie about a thing like that.

You mean even if it is a lie, that in itself is predetermined, you have no choice but to lie.

What about when you meet your love, it really is written in the stars??

Have you been listening to Radio 4 this morning?

And yet I favour the mysteriousness of fate over social conditioning. Nobody elects itself the will of humanity - humanity is a zoological term without real meaning - instead the world works in mysterious ways. A variety of mysterious ways.

A Christian has to believe in free will to validate their religion.

I agree but that doesn't make it true

Although a radio 4 follower I wasn't on today, was there a related program on??