Comments | tracy_d74: Question: Free Will vs. Determinism

tracy_d74

Question: Free Will vs. Determinism

Mar 21, 2011 00:56

This weekend I watched The Adjustment Bureau (I really liked) and read Across the Universe by Beth Revis (I really liked). Both stories dealt with the idea of free will. This is a topic I LOVE to think about. (Diyari Chronicles deals with this idea of free will).

I subscribe to the capatibilism viewpoint (see chart below). I think that each of us ( Read more... )

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Comments 37

peadarog March 21 2011, 10:44:54 UTC

It all depends on the day :)

tracy_d74 March 21 2011, 17:02:34 UTC

I understand. ;)

dotificus March 21 2011, 11:14:39 UTC

I believe in free will, but I think damage done to a person can hamper how free they are to choose. Addiction, emotional or physical abuse, etc.-- those things can damage a person in ways that weakens their ability to choose freely.

Not sure where that puts me on the chart.

tracy_d74 March 21 2011, 17:08:52 UTC

Yes, I think a continuum may be better for this question. There's probably one out on the internet somewhere. I think addiction, abuse, etc alters a person's perceptions; thus making them BELIEVE they don't have choices. THAT limits the person. I think the bad things in life are just as powerful, if not more so, in shaping who I am, who you are. There is strength in surviving (if you choose to see and use it). That's me. A psychologist. All that touchy-feely stuff. :o)

mtlawson March 21 2011, 11:34:51 UTC

Well, in literature --especially Fantasy literature-- there's a heavy reliance on the use of prophecy and tinkering by the gods/whathaveyou/baddies. What people think of as free will in those novels boils down to doing what someone else predicted they would do.

For me, personally, I believe in Free Will. To deny Free Will is to abdicate our responsibility for our actions, and I see enough of that right now where some people think they're given a 'get out of jail free' card. At the same time, a lot of our world operates on easily defined physical laws, but I don't think that rises to the level where our world operates in a Deterministic fashion.

tracy_d74 March 21 2011, 17:13:27 UTC

yes, literature does use prophecy A LOT. shucks, i used it in diyari. however, i also left free will. sure, someone said they had to do x,y, z...but there is still a choice to be made.

such an interesting topic. one of those i could talk about forever and walk away just as unsure. maybe it is the inability to answer it that makes it fascinating. it is a unsolvable conundrum

paulwoodlin March 21 2011, 23:38:54 UTC

I've come to think that prophecy in most fantasy novels are a writer's way of loading the dice, of forcing their unlikely characters together in ways that don't really make a lot of rational sense. It is the Author's Hand instead of God's Plan.

tracy_d74 March 22 2011, 00:29:49 UTC

Hmmm? I've never thought of it that way. I can see your point. So...are you saying that the prophecy between Harry Potter and Voldermort was about JK Rowling and not God? I mean...those are big words. ;)

Thread 6

bondo_ba March 21 2011, 14:10:14 UTC

I yo-yo on this one. On one hand, I believe that the entire evolution of the universe was predetermined by the position of particles during the big bang, while on the other, I beilieve that nothing changes free will.

Call me a physicist-atheist on this point...

tracy_d74 March 21 2011, 17:18:21 UTC

i think that is why i'm the captibilism. i think there is something bigger, some ultimate outcome. but how we get there...that is all up for grabs.

rowanda380 March 21 2011, 16:03:35 UTC

I am a fatalist...I love thinking about determination...but I hate talking about it, I always get in argument because people violently disagree with my opinions so much that it makes them angry and hostile.

tracy_d74 March 21 2011, 17:01:38 UTC

Yes, people can be VERY ... argumentative about this topic. I think it is one of those things you, me, WE can never know the answer. But what we believe shapes our actions. Just like what we believe about afterlife, shapes our actions.

rowanda380 March 21 2011, 22:04:03 UTC

yeah it is difficult, but just because I believe that because of everything before nothing but what will happen can happen doesn't really change the way I live my life...that is what I can't seem to get across to them, because I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN...no one can...

paulwoodlin March 21 2011, 23:42:09 UTC

Free will is a very important and often unspoken premise of not only our earthly judicial system but also Christian justice. The reward of Heaven and punishment of Hell make very little sense without free will (not a whole lot of sense with free will either, but that's another question). Thus, when you talk about determinism, you are upsetting very important assumptions they depend upon to think that the world is fair and just and all that other stuff.

Thread 13