Cause And Effect Vs Free Will

[JimR-OCDS]

I'm in a discussion with a fellow who says that there is no free will, only cause and effect.

His position is, we don't act on free will, but rather, the causes that make us act.

Any thoughts?


Jim

[Nunsense]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='13 January 2010 - 08:20 AM' timestamp='1263331204' post='2035564']
I'm in a discussion with a fellow who says that there is no free will, only cause and effect.

His position is, we don't act on free will, but rather, the causes that make us act.

Any thoughts?


Jim
[/quote]


So don't we still have some kind of free will as to how we respond to the cause? Otherwise, wouldn't we all respond the same way to the same cause? After all, not every cause has the same effect.

[add]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='12 January 2010 - 05:20 PM' timestamp='1263331204' post='2035564']
I'm in a discussion with a fellow who says that there is no free will, only cause and effect.

His position is, we don't act on free will, but rather, the causes that make us act.

Any thoughts?


Jim
[/quote]

i think not! free will has a mind of its own. inquire within oneself

[peach_cube]

He doesn't know much about physics then.

[Winchester]

We probably don't have completely free will as in our choices are influenced by our situation, but we clearly make choices.

[Laudate_Dominum]

I would rant vaguely on esoteric philosophical topics mixed with discussions of all things prefaced by the term 'quantum', with some tangents touching upon emergence, stochastic processes and schrodinger's cat, until he becomes thoroughly dazzled and accepts the fact that his amateur google-fu is no match for my internet-assembled world view.

[Socrates]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='12 January 2010 - 04:20 PM' timestamp='1263331204' post='2035564']
I'm in a discussion with a fellow who says that there is no free will, only cause and effect.

His position is, we don't act on free will, but rather, the causes that make us act.

Any thoughts?


Jim
[/quote]
Did he freely decide that this position is true?

[Winchester]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='12 January 2010 - 07:17 PM' timestamp='1263341875' post='2035673']
I would rant vaguely on esoteric philosophical topics mixed with discussions of all things prefaced by the term 'quantum', with some tangents touching upon emergence, stochastic processes and schrodinger's cat, until he becomes thoroughly dazzled and accepts the fact that his amateur google-fu is no match for my internet-assembled world view.
[/quote]
win

[Luigi]

I'd tell him that it's useless to argue further because he would simply be playing out the effects of his prior causes and so would you.

[Nihil Obstat]

I wrote a paper earlier this year about why I believe that determinism (strictly cause and effect) is not necessarily true, and why libertarian free will is perfectly rational. It's only a mediocre paper... got about a B+ on it, but I'll post it if you like. It sums up my thoughts rather well.

[JimR-OCDS]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='13 January 2010 - 01:07 AM' timestamp='1263359222' post='2035866']
I wrote a paper earlier this year about why I believe that determinism (strictly cause and effect) is not necessarily true, and why libertarian free will is perfectly rational. It's only a mediocre paper... got about a B+ on it, but I'll post it if you like. It sums up my thoughts rather well.
[/quote]


Yes, please post it.

If anyone would like to join in on the debate, its at the Historium.com website.

This thread;

[url="http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?p=179394#post179394"]http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?p=179394#post179394[/url]

Regards
Jim

[add]

[quote name='JimR-OCDS' date='13 January 2010 - 09:59 AM' timestamp='1263391140' post='2036100']
Yes, please post it.

If anyone would like to join in on the debate, its at the Historium.com website.

This thread;

[url="http://www.historum.com/showthread.php?p=179394#post179394"]http://www.historum....9394#post179394[/url]

Regards
Jim
[/quote]

are we free to do so? or preordained to debate, this topic

[Nihil Obstat]

I will post it later today when I have my material handy.