Is free will an illusion?

Basically, it comes down to:

A) whether or not you believe in determinism, that is, that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences

B) Is freedom compatible, or incompatible with determinism.

I believe in determinism. I believe every phenomena, even conscious thought, is the result of chemical interactions that are dictated by the laws of nature. Conscious thought is nothing more than physical processes in the brain....and therefore, thoughts and decisions are the result of an unthinking, mechanistic process. As a result, I believe that free will, is incompatible with determinism, and therefore, free will is an illusion.

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

A) whether or not you believe in determinism, that is, that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences

But if you believe in determinism, an unbroken chain of prior occurrences...how does that work exactly? I mean, if every cause has an effect, you should be able to trace the chain of causes and effects backwards to a starting point right? It can't just go on indefinitely, because there was a beginning point wasn't there? What's the beginning?

__________________
"I'm not great at farewells, so, uh...that'll do, pig."
~Tallahassee Youtube - That'll do Pig

The beginning is the big bang I suppose...what was before that? I don't know. But just because we haven't figured it out, doesn't invalidate determinism IMO. There is an answer...we just don't know exactly what it is yet.

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

Its really a mind numbing thought, because chances are the universe has been around forever. Meaning there would be no beginning, and there is probably no end.

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

I would argue that determinism is flawed because even if you figured out what came before the big bang you'd have to figure out what came before THAT. If determinism is true then wouldn't there be an endless chain of causes and effects going back into infinity? And that's not possible...is it?

__________________
"I'm not great at farewells, so, uh...that'll do, pig."
~Tallahassee Youtube - That'll do Pig

Hmm, its a really good question. I guess, either there was a creation point...or time loops in a circle, and there really is no beginning or end...which seems pretty incomprehensible...but this is what some people theorize.

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

But if time loops which yeah is pretty incomprehensible, doesn't that mean determinism is flawed? I mean, how can there just be a loop of cause and effects without something putting it into motion to begin with?

And if there was a creation point, what did the creating? (I personally believe in God, but I don't know what you believe)

__________________
"I'm not great at farewells, so, uh...that'll do, pig."
~Tallahassee Youtube - That'll do Pig

Well, it sort of makes sense if the "last" event of the loop, causes the "first" event. Say the big bang is the '"first" event, from there the universe expand until it reaches a point where it begins to contract...eventually, all matter condenses to a single point, at which point, the big bang happens all over again. Again it still leaves you wondering what is the beginning, but if you believe in a creation point, it is just as incomprehensible, and leaves you asking the same question. If god created the universe...what created god...There is no real answer, nobody knows. The idea of a "beginning" in it of itself, does not make much sense. So I guess you sort of have to overlook these things. Think of the beginning as the big bang, and just forget about what happened before, or what caused it. Or you can look it as the big bang being the point of creation...in which case you still have to overlook the beginning of the creator.


I don't believe or disbelieve in god, I am content with not knowing.

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

The only way I can come to the conclusion that free will exists, is if there is a god, and souls exist. If it is our souls making choices, and not just mechanical processes in our brain...than free will could exist. But that opens a whole new can of worms...what is a soul? How do they function?...etc etc

__________________
If god dropped acid, would he see people?

If you really want to boggle your mind.. read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.