1st July 2010, 8:45 AM
Does free will exist? If so, how can you define it? If not, back up with evidence.
If one defines free will as the ability to do as one pleases entirely independent of outside influence, and based upon one's own desires:
I say it does not exist, because all decisions and thought processes undertaken by all living entities are arrived at by a long and tedious series of previous experiences. No fallible animal based possessing an imperfect biochemical brain is capable of independent, spontaneous thought. Indeed, the very idea may be altogether impossible. No matter what we say or do, we do so as the result of a long and ongoing thought process that builds upon experiences.
If one defines free will as the ability to do as one pleases entirely independent of outside influence, and based upon one's own desires:
I say it does not exist, because all decisions and thought processes undertaken by all living entities are arrived at by a long and tedious series of previous experiences. No fallible animal based possessing an imperfect biochemical brain is capable of independent, spontaneous thought. Indeed, the very idea may be altogether impossible. No matter what we say or do, we do so as the result of a long and ongoing thought process that builds upon experiences.
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