| My answer to "Free will?"
This was my answer: Quote:
I'm glad you added the clarifying question "Are my decisions made for me by the cumulative effects of the past?" because that is what it comes down to. And most defenses of free will are - in effect - "since I am free to choose, I have free will." That is called begging the question.
Your clarification shows that free will is not about the ability to choose, but what ultimately determines our decisions.
Are my decisions determined solely by my mind unencumbered by external factors, or is my mind itself actually a product of all the cumulative effects that have led up to this decision - genetics, environment, how was I potty trained, did my father smoke, am I a righty or a lefty?
What this means is that not matter how you break it down, we can not get past the fact that we are a product of everything that came before us, from Adam and Eve to the time we ate that whole bag of corn chips and threw up on cousin Joey and now we always choose the potato chips.
The reason we *think* we have free will is we often do not figure out what we are going to choose to do until we finally make a decision. This gives us a sense of freedom because we are completely unconscious of all the infinite factors that move us ...
unrelentingly ...
and unavoidable ...
to choose ...
to vote RON PAUL for President!!
| I expect the last sentence will garner me many votes for best answer. After all, Ron Paul rules on the Internet!
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R. Anthony Coletti
Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Jonesborough, TN
[i]et venite et arguite me dicit Dominus[/i]
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