Shannon's Journal Discussion Volume 3

[Have at ye]

I had a discussion with my friends regarding free will, and they argumented that we don't have it, but I believe strongly that we have, it's a no-brainer for me. But I couldnt get them on my side. What are your thoughts?

Excuses for unanalyzed behavior.

People who disawov the existence of free-will usually do it as an excuse for taking personal responsibility for their actions.

Also it is often used as a tool of control, and thus becomes ingrained through socialization. If you've been told that something is out of your control because "so it is", then you should be more willing to give up your own free-will towards someone else's goals. Hence, for instance, the moronic application of the concept of "karma" in, say, feudal Japan.

Technically speaking, the "determinism - free-will" debate has always been a thing, but there have already been philosophers who would argue that these ideas are not actually opposed, but co-exist and can, indeed, do so in a way that's logically sound. I don't remember the names of these guys (one guy in particular), you'd have to search them out, as I can't remember off the top of my head.

My personal take: assume a thing is a function of free-will until it isn't. Otherwise, you'll never know whether you actually had a choice or not. There are, indeed, things, that are out of one's control - and thus would fall under "determinism" - but otherwise you've got choices aplenty. To try and argue otherwise is a cop-out, pragmatically speaking.

People often also decide that something is predetermined because they are not consciously aware of the fact that they are indeed making a choice in a given situation. The fact that something is being done unconsciously does not mean it's not being done *willingly*.