What might this <1% of free will look like? Let's look at this theoretical situation: you're faced with deciding between two choices. All of the forces that would make you want either choice are absolutely equal. Would you be unable to choose? If you were able to choose, would that be the sliver of free will or would that just be randomness? Is randomness even possible? — A Ree Zen
I don't think anybody really believes that they are the only thing that exists, even if logic would show that is the only thing we can be certain of. — ChatteringMonkey
Right now I'm watching at my screen and there doesn't seem to be an entire universe attached to it... so
I'm not sure what to make of that statement. Maybe if you explain it, it might make some sense, or maybe not, I don't know. — ChatteringMonkey
I'm watching at my screen — ChatteringMonkey
The world is egocentric, that is, it revolves around your perception of existence. As an individual, I have no other possibility of perceiving the world besides my own, as you can only perceive the world through your Being. — Gus Lamarch
Yes, I think I could agree with that. I don't think anything I said is at odds with that. Is there some point I'm missing? — ChatteringMonkey
No it would be "(another part of)will" deciding to chose, because you don't like indecision for instance. — ChatteringMonkey
omnipotence, is only truly free will, that can do literally anything — batsushi7
The more we are aware of our surroundings and ourselves, the things that influence us, the stronger our will gets. If I know what is making me do this and why, I will be able to fight it. — Eremit
I don't think anybody really believes that they are the only thing that exists, even if logic would show that is the only thing we can be certain of.
— ChatteringMonkey
Going through this discussion, this statement made me uneasy. You may not be the only thing that exists, however, the entire outer Universe is egocentrically attached to your perception of existence. — Gus Lamarch
Obviously I’m equating will, body, person and self, but only because I believe they are one and the same. I think the sooner we come to admit this the better. — NOS4A2
We don't have "free" will, and that's easy to prove. You do what you like, right? You reject what you don't like, right? And you do everything dependant on your likes and dislikes. Sounds free, right?
The problem is, you don't choose your likes and dislikes, you just have them and devote your life to appeasing them. Where do they come from? Your genetic/biological predispositions set against your environment, which refers to education, experience, parental influences, needs, etc. — Ron Hooft
You would need to argue that our likes and dislikes (as well as other things like knowledge, experience, etc.) are separate to our wills. — Michael
I'm not responsible for being allergic to peanuts, or having a phobia of spiders — Michael
Haven't you just asserted the exact thing you said was yet to be demonstrated? Your phobia of spiders is a 'dislike', which you claim not to be responsible for - hence you're already seeing your dislikes as something other than the 'you' which may or may not be responsible for them? — Isaac
I'm not responsible for having the phobia, but I am responsible for the things I do because of it, e.g. setting fire to my house to kill the spider inside. — Michael
OK, but the theory goes that if the phobia makes you want to behave a certain way (and you consider yourself not responsible for it), then we have a model of factors outside of your responsibility influencing behaviour. Presumably there's no a priori reason why there should only be one such influence? So it seems, not only a valid default, but even a likely one, that the final behaviour is the net result of all the influences pulling in one direction or another...influences you've just determined are outside of your control. Afterall, the only factors we have in our model so far are such influences. — Isaac
To avoid this, you'd have to introduce a new factor into the model other than a like/dislike influence. — Isaac
Is there any reason to believe that these influences fully explain our behaviour? — Michael
I'm struggling to think of a behaviour to which no likes/dislikes could be attached, and so can't see the explanatory need for this additional factor other than that you'd prefer it to be there. — Isaac
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