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Is free will an illusion?

Background

The belief that we control our decisions is seemingly undermined by the fact that the future is an inevitable consequence of the past. When we put our foot on a car's accelerator, we know that this causes chemical combustion in the car, and that the car has no choice but to go faster. Similarly, the putting of our foot on the accelerator was also caused by chemical combustion - one in our own brains. For this reason, many philosophers and scientists regard free will as illusionary.

Implications to Other Questions

Does belief in God have a significant genetic component?
Must all explanations be compatible with the laws of physics?
Are our enemies innately evil?

Experts

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Agree

Experts In Science

Martha J. Farah Neuropsychology Professor

Agree

I don’t think "free will" is a very sensible concept, and you don’t need neuroscience to reject it — any mechanistic view of the world is good enough, and indeed you could even argue on purely conceptual grounds that the opposite of determinism is randomness, not free will! Most thoughtful neuroscientists I know have replaced the concept of free will with the concept of rationality — that we select our actions based on a kind of practical reasoning.

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14 Apr 2008 Source

Experts In Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche Iconic Philosopher of 19th Century

Agree

...an error called "responsibility" [rests] on an error called "freedom of the will." Those evil actions which outrage us most today are based on the error that that man who harms us has free will, that is, that he had the choice not to do this bad thing to us. This belief in his choice arouses hatred, thirst for revenge, spite, the whole deterioration of our imagination; whereas we get much less angry at an animal because we consider it irresponsible.

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01 Jan 1878 Source

Bertrand Russell Iconic Philosopher of 20th Century

Agree

No man treats a motorcar as foolishly as he treats another human being. When the car will not go, he does not attribute its annoying behaviour to sin; he does not say, "You are a wicked motorcar, and I shall not give you any more petrol until you go." He attempts to find out what is wrong and to set it right. An analogous way of treating human beings is, however, considered to be contrary to the truths of our holy religion.

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01 Jan 1930 Source

Disagree

Experts In Science

Eliezer Yudkowsky Artificial Intelligence Researcher

Disagree

My position might perhaps be called "Requiredism." When agency, choice, control, and moral responsibility are cashed out in a sensible way, they require determinism - at least some patches of determinism within the universe. ... You are within physics, and so you/physics have determined the future. If it were not determined by physics, it could not be determined by you.

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06 Jun 2008 Source

Experts In Philosophy

Daniel Dennett Philosophy Professor

Disagree

Situation-action machines are built with a bunch of rules that say, "If in situation X, do A," "If in situation B, do Z," [etc.]. A choice machine [looks] at the world [and] says, "If I did this, what would happen? If I did that, what would happen? ... It builds up an anticipation of what the likely outcome of one action or another would be, and then chooses on the basis of how much that outcome is valued or disvalued. They're both machines, but [the latter] is much more free than the other.

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01 May 2003 Source

Experts In Christianity

The Catholic Church Largest Christian Church

Disagree

Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity [and] the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back.

The Awesome God Pitch

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11 Oct 1992 Source

Comments

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JGWeissman gave their takeonit on 06 Mar 2010

Disagree

Free will is the ability to systematically act in accordance with one's desires. This is enabled, not threatened, by determinism.

fallcrysilk gave their takeonit on 30 Jul 2009

Mostly Agree

It is my belief that everyone naturally practices self-preservation.No one willingly choses something that hurts themselves or other people,because you can't hurt someone else without being affected by it and hurting yourself.When people hurt themselves or others,it's only because they felt powerless over their feelings and felt that it would cause them less pain.Generally,we don't have freewill because we don't know what we're doing.There are tons of misconceptions and unhealthy perceptions we are unaware of,which cause us to form intents,which then lead us to actions which are more like impulses and then we are hurt and sorry.I don't believe people actually will evil.It is more like an accident

NotAnExpert gave their takeonit on 18 Jun 2009

Disagree

you have free will. you never do anything in your life that you don't have the choice to do. You don't have to breathe if you don't want to. but you choose to. You don't have to read this comment if you don't want to, but you choose to. You have the will to fight back or the will to surrender. If a teacher tells you to sit down, regardless of the consequences, you still have the will to obey or disobey.