I have for now settled with the argument that we cannot control our desires which guide our decisions, thus we are not really free. — Leiton Baynes

The Buddha disagreed with you. He noted that the average person was not in control of his desires, hence was essentially a zombie driven by evolutionary programming, and thence was suffering the frustration of unfulfilled desires. Of course that's a modern interpretation. But he discovered that he could control his own mind & body simply by focusing his attention inwardly (introspection). So his ethic was based on the possibility of Self-Control, taking personal responsibility for your own actions. Even serious meditators cannot claim to be totally free, though. But they are more aware of their innate programming than others. Which makes them like the one-eyed man in the land of the blind. :smile:

In a way, yes. Of course, if you choose to go against the moral norms of the society you are in, you won't be appreciated by the other members of the society.

Even serious meditators cannot claim to be totally free, though — Gnomon

Indeed, we are animals who have evolved through millenia. Our first question always has to be "how is what I am thinking now biased by my evolutionary programming?" It is possible that we can never be even slightly free from this in the same way we can never really be free from the effects of gravity. But we can be aware that everything we do and say is most likely biased and act accordingly with humility and critical thought.

Questions like this would normally be followed by a conjecture based on observations to which we could attempt refutation. I'm not sure how I can tell if I have free will or not, so forming some form of testable hypothesis is difficult.

This presupposes that the only factor affecting a choice is morality. Morally, I might pick up a lost wallet and give it into the police station. If I'm short on money, I might remove the cash first before taking the wallet to the police station. One then makes up a justification along the lines of "at least I didn't try to access the bank accounts using the cards, and I did return the wallet, and the cash is my reward". I can feel morally adequate - moral to the point of not being found out.

On that note, people are generally very good at tying themselves in logical knots to justify previously made decisions.

But we can be aware that everything we do and say is most likely biased and act accordingly with humility and critical thought. — Roy Davies

Yes. Robert Wright, in Why Buddhism is True, used the Matrix movie as an analogy to the state of humans enslaved by their evolutionary programming. He assumes that we have enough freewill to make a choice between genetic programming and self-programming. :smile:

Buddhist Meditation : "Wright begins his analysis of Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation by reference to the modern meme of taking the “Red Pill”, as illustrated in the movie The Matrix. The implication is that deluded humans have a choice to wake-up to harsh reality, and take charge of their own lives, or to remain in their illusory dream-state as slaves to outside forces."
http://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page51.html