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How important is it? Should someone be free to make choices that would surely result in harm nor even their demise?
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How important is free will?
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yeshuaslavejeff
simple truth, martyr, disciple of Yahshua
TOTALLY
YAHWEH the CREATOR of every molecule in existence
considers it SO IMPORTANT
that
EVEN THOUGH HE VOLUNTARILY SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON to die for us...
He lets us go our own way unless we WANT to serve HIM.
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Without free will, it's all for naught.
True love can only come by choice, it cannot be dictated, and God wants people he can love and whom can love him, truly.
True love can only come by choice, it cannot be dictated, and God wants people he can love and whom can love him, truly.
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Apologetic_Warrior
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Here is an article on free will from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The basic positions are:
Hard Determinism (incompatiblism)
Soft Determinism (this can be a hybrid of HD and C)
Compatibilism
Libertarian (incompatibilism)
It is important, always important, however choices are limited in many ways, including human nature, and guided by certain assumptions about human nature, by human nature, I mean the nature of the will, by nature I mean the assumptions about whether or not man is sinful or something else. Of course, I operate under the assumption man is sinful and this effects the nature of the will. This extends to the desires and motives of the heart, which because of fallen human nature in Adam are sinful. In other words, there is a difference between pleasing man and pleasing God. Anyway, sorry to expound further than your questions, maybe I should have given a shorter answer, but wanted to provide something with substance for thought.
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yeshuaslavejeff
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Like a 3 year old ? As Jesus says we must become like a little child (in faith)?
They just follow daddy or mommy with a big smile on their face
.... If someone comes along and tries to get them to go another way, they cling more to daddy and mommy if they were raised right - they won't follow a stranger.
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- Dec 10, 2003
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Like a 3 year old ? As Jesus says we must become like a little child (in faith)?
They just follow daddy or mommy with a big smile on their face
If someone comes along and tries to get them to go another way, they cling more to daddy and mommy if they were raised right - they won't follow a stranger.
That does not even approach answering my question, which is: what does the OP mean by "free will"? Which of the various definitions was intended? Compatibilist free will? Libertarian free will?
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That does not even approach answering my question. What do you mean by "choice"? Which of the various definitions do you refer to? Compatibilist choice? Libertarian choice?
Because, quite frankly, if you think something is important, you should try to understand it a bit.
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- Oct 22, 2014
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The ability to choose, for example you decided to go AMA from a hospital.
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Jonaitis
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Depends on how you define "free will."
Yes, we have the ability to make conscious decision as moral agents. But, our will has been corrupted by the fall so that it is no longer "free" in the sense that it is now bias toward all that is good, and bent toward all that is sinful. We are naturally hostile to God's authority and truth, and we make willfiul, conscious choices to rebel.
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Apologetic_Warrior
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I have to agree, the OP is an atheist, so I'd be curious how anything like a "will" exists for him, because I would consider it part of the soul, but what is a "soul" to an atheist. Cannot see it, taste it, smell it, touch it, hear it, etc. with the five senses via scientific method. The scientific method presupposes cause and effect, causation is assumed in the predictability of science. So yeah, can the atheist speak of choices in a meaningful way? I mean obviously we all makes choices, but can the OP even account for freedom of a choice? It is important indeed.
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- Dec 10, 2003
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"Choice" is one of those things that seems simple until you start to think about it. And it interacts with the idea that the future might, in some way, be determined by the past, or in some other way "written." Even at a purely personal level: are my choices determined by my thoughts, feelings, past history, etc., or are they random?
The main philosophical approaches are (oversimplifying greatly):
- Libertarian free will -- I made one choice, but in the "garden of forking paths" that is the future, I might equally well have made another (for example, my choice might have been random).
- Compatibilist free will -- my choice might have been determined, at least at a personal level, but nevertheless I made the choice that I wanted to.
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- Oct 22, 2014
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Your correct in that I dont believe in souls, but I can reconcile the existence of a will by tying it into the human psyche. Your desires are a byproduct of your personality. Heck we could have a whole thread on if free will even exists at all or if its tied to your genetics and upbringing both of which you had no choice in the matter of. Yet I place a great deal of importance into the idea of free will, so much so I dont find things such as suicide to be immoral because in the end it was your choice. I find it regrettable but still.
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