Willensfreiheit.
As you can (perhaps can't) tell from the title, this is about free will. First, I will approach the subject from the biologic standpoint. Then comes the spiritual standpoint. Finally, my standpoint and an open invitation to give your own.
Biologically, it is still up in the air whether we have free will or not. The classical approach claimed that the mind was separate from the brain, as explained in Cartesian dualism. They are separate from each other, but both exist. Modern reductionism proposes that all mental activity stems from electrochemical activity between neurons. The mind, if it exists at all, is an illusion created by the brain. There is no mind, everything is physical. New science is showing that it is possible that the mind exists. It could act as a gateway, allowing veto power to the subconscious. We all have a million subconscious thoughts running at any given moment. Action potentials bring certain actions to the surface, to our conscious. New theory, coupled with quantum mechanics, proposes that the mind hold veto power over these action potentials, allowing us to stop activity that would otherwise make us the automatons the twentieth century made us out to be. Biologically, it is hard to accept that there is an intangible force attached to each body exclusively that operates the rest of the physical body. Very briefly, it is possible that the mind exists, operates independently from, and influences the brain and thus the physical body. It is also very possible that the brain gives rise to the illusion of the mind, and we are all mere automatons playing out the predetermined electrochemical signals firing across our synapses. Clearly, biology does not yet hold the answer to the question of free will.
Even less definitively than biology, spirituality holds a feeble grip on the subject of free will. This stance holds infinite flexibility, and just as many different viewpoints. Here, Michel de Montaigne is probably correct in saying, "All that is certain is that nothing is certain." Just touching the different stances on this subject is all this entry can do. You can believe that free will is embodied in the soul, and the mind exists without and independent of the brain and the body. It can be said that free will does not exist due to the omniscience of God. It can even be said that the lack of God's omniscience gives us free will. The last one needs to be elaborated. If God knows everything, then he must know everything every human will do. We are trapped in our actions, nothing we do is done out of free will. It can then be said that we have no free will, and we are God's puppets. Contrary to that, it can be true that God is omniscient, but we still keep our free will. This is possible because of our ignorance. Because we do not know God's knowledge of what we are going to do does not mean we are trapped. Our ignorance keeps us free. If I were standing behind you in line for a soda and I knew all along which soda you were going to choose, it doesn't mean you didn't have free will in choosing it. Provided you never knew which soda you were going to choose, you'd choose that soda in the end. It is for this reason that we cannot see the future, especially if it is predetermined. Free will could also be a product of the brain, and so dies with the brain. It is simply the ability of the brain to influence itself and "think," allowing us to choose. Given this view, the mind, the will, and the body all die with the brain. Again, we are left without answer to the question of free will.
Here I propose my own view of free will. The body and brain exist. The mind exists as a creation of the firing synapses of the brain. However, the mind is an emergent property of the brain. The mind's "thoughts" cannot be determined by the sum of synaptical firing. The mind is efficacious to the brain. That is to say, the mind can and does affect the brain. The mind can change the brain, and the mind has the power to think and decide. The mind has the power to control most of the brain and the body. When the body dies, the mind dies. When the mind dies, the body becomes useless. You can see, hear, eat, sleep, breathe, circulate, but you cannot think. When the body loses the ability to think, it loses its sense of humanness. It becomes animal, a baggage of meat. This theory of irrespective of God. God might exist, He might know everything, but He cannot tell us our future. If God is omniscient, he cannot be omnipotent. He is not allowed to tell us our future, because we are built to run on ignorance. Knowledge would destroy us as humans. It is vital to say that the human spirit is inextricably tied to the mind, and both die when the body dies. We thus have free will and responsibility without the weight of an eternal soul. So I ask you now: What do you believe about the human free will?
Biologically, it is still up in the air whether we have free will or not. The classical approach claimed that the mind was separate from the brain, as explained in Cartesian dualism. They are separate from each other, but both exist. Modern reductionism proposes that all mental activity stems from electrochemical activity between neurons. The mind, if it exists at all, is an illusion created by the brain. There is no mind, everything is physical. New science is showing that it is possible that the mind exists. It could act as a gateway, allowing veto power to the subconscious. We all have a million subconscious thoughts running at any given moment. Action potentials bring certain actions to the surface, to our conscious. New theory, coupled with quantum mechanics, proposes that the mind hold veto power over these action potentials, allowing us to stop activity that would otherwise make us the automatons the twentieth century made us out to be. Biologically, it is hard to accept that there is an intangible force attached to each body exclusively that operates the rest of the physical body. Very briefly, it is possible that the mind exists, operates independently from, and influences the brain and thus the physical body. It is also very possible that the brain gives rise to the illusion of the mind, and we are all mere automatons playing out the predetermined electrochemical signals firing across our synapses. Clearly, biology does not yet hold the answer to the question of free will.
Even less definitively than biology, spirituality holds a feeble grip on the subject of free will. This stance holds infinite flexibility, and just as many different viewpoints. Here, Michel de Montaigne is probably correct in saying, "All that is certain is that nothing is certain." Just touching the different stances on this subject is all this entry can do. You can believe that free will is embodied in the soul, and the mind exists without and independent of the brain and the body. It can be said that free will does not exist due to the omniscience of God. It can even be said that the lack of God's omniscience gives us free will. The last one needs to be elaborated. If God knows everything, then he must know everything every human will do. We are trapped in our actions, nothing we do is done out of free will. It can then be said that we have no free will, and we are God's puppets. Contrary to that, it can be true that God is omniscient, but we still keep our free will. This is possible because of our ignorance. Because we do not know God's knowledge of what we are going to do does not mean we are trapped. Our ignorance keeps us free. If I were standing behind you in line for a soda and I knew all along which soda you were going to choose, it doesn't mean you didn't have free will in choosing it. Provided you never knew which soda you were going to choose, you'd choose that soda in the end. It is for this reason that we cannot see the future, especially if it is predetermined. Free will could also be a product of the brain, and so dies with the brain. It is simply the ability of the brain to influence itself and "think," allowing us to choose. Given this view, the mind, the will, and the body all die with the brain. Again, we are left without answer to the question of free will.
Here I propose my own view of free will. The body and brain exist. The mind exists as a creation of the firing synapses of the brain. However, the mind is an emergent property of the brain. The mind's "thoughts" cannot be determined by the sum of synaptical firing. The mind is efficacious to the brain. That is to say, the mind can and does affect the brain. The mind can change the brain, and the mind has the power to think and decide. The mind has the power to control most of the brain and the body. When the body dies, the mind dies. When the mind dies, the body becomes useless. You can see, hear, eat, sleep, breathe, circulate, but you cannot think. When the body loses the ability to think, it loses its sense of humanness. It becomes animal, a baggage of meat. This theory of irrespective of God. God might exist, He might know everything, but He cannot tell us our future. If God is omniscient, he cannot be omnipotent. He is not allowed to tell us our future, because we are built to run on ignorance. Knowledge would destroy us as humans. It is vital to say that the human spirit is inextricably tied to the mind, and both die when the body dies. We thus have free will and responsibility without the weight of an eternal soul. So I ask you now: What do you believe about the human free will?