Experiment- Do you have free will?

[Qoeleth]

You may be a person of habit. That doesn’t negate or corroborate the hypothesis that you don’t have a specific type of free will though.

In fact, part of the Rule of Benedict (by which I live) is to put aside self-will in favor of obedience, to the Abbot, to the other brothers, to the Horarium- the idea is that you get out of the habit of having personal preference. But living in such a way shows that life can be lived without really exercising free will- that the body and brain just do their thing regardless of the exercise of will. But I suspect it the same with people with busy jobs, families- one does what one does more or less automatically.

 

[John_Q_Sinner]

Is free will an illusion?

To test this, I proposed a simple experiment to myself- on a given day, I would do things differently- sleep in, have tea at breakfast instead of coffee, do some things I normally wouldn’t do, make other random variations in the day.

But it turned out I ended up doing everything actually as I always do. So, it seems as if I do not have free will- that my body and brain are basically just working out of causality, or following through Divine Will.

Anyone might like to try the same experiment, and I wager the same result will emerge. Pick a random, incongruous act, and see if you can do it…Like read a book you are not at all interested in, or order a food you hate at a restaurant, or stand up on a train and say something foolish out loud…It can’t be done. Our body and brain just follow the train track there are in.

Habits do not negate free will.

 

[bzkoss236]

In fact, part of the Rule of Benedict (by which I live) is to put aside self-will in favor of obedience, to the Abbot, to the other brothers, to the Horarium- the idea is that you get out of the habit of having personal preference. But living in such a way shows that life can be lived without really exercising free will- that the body and brain just do their thing regardless of the exercise of will. But I suspect it the same with people with busy jobs, families- one does what one does more or less automatically.

No, your free will is still exercised, even if you are not completely aware of it. Your body and brain can’t do any conscious decision by itself. You make those decisions. The only thing your body and brain do themselves are involuntary bodily functions, such as regular breathing, beating your heart, etc. Every decision you make throughout the day, even if it is the same decisions you’ve made the previous days, are decisions made with your free will. Even being obedient requires free will, ie. your will to follow orders instead of doing something else.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

But I suspect it the same with people with busy jobs, families- one does what one does more or less automatically.

I am pretty sure there are quite a number of actions that people do rather mindlessly and perfunctorily because of occupation. If I take my usual path home I drive “on automatic” until something unusual happens (ex: a log falls off of a truck, a person comes down the wrong side of the road, a kid drives past me controlling the car from the outside) and then my level of awareness shoots up while I react. Having autonomously capabilities can be convenient at times (or a danger at other times, like when some one mindlessly follows their GPS into a dangerous situation).

BTW: are you familiar with “Pavlov’s Response”?

 

[SentinelofTruth]

Qoeleth:

Is free will an illusion?

To test this, I proposed a simple experiment to myself- on a given day, I would do things differently- sleep in, have tea at breakfast instead of coffee, do some things I normally wouldn’t do, make other random variations in the day.

But it turned out I ended up doing everything actually as I always do. So, it seems as if I do not have free will- that my body and brain are basically just working out of causality, or following through Divine Will.

Anyone might like to try the same experiment, and I wager the same result will emerge. Pick a random, incongruous act, and see if you can do it…Like read a book you are not at all interested in, or order a food you hate at a restaurant, or stand up on a train and say something foolish out loud…It can’t be done. Our body and brain just follow the train track there are in.

It seems are deeds are already written in God’s Book of Life, and we just read the pages. But maybe this is a good thing…

Just because you chose with your free will to take back your decision to make these variations says nothing about free will being an illusion. Besides, it’s incoherent to say free will is an illusion. Consider:
An illusion is defined as a false perception.
Free will is clearly a conscious thing, whether or not it exists.
Following from the definition of conscious, you cannot think a conscious event in occuring in your mind unless either you are correct or you are just not being honest with yourself and denying your introspection.

 

[polytropos]

But it turned out I ended up doing everything actually as I always do.

Including making this topic? I only see one copy.

More seriously, I would say that we are still very much - even if not fully - material beings who respond to the world habitually and unconsciously. How could we not be? Only some activities must be free, like, say, certain rational decisions I make (say, to create a certain topic on CAR).

 

[tonyrey]

Is free will an illusion?

To test this, I proposed a simple experiment to myself- on a given day, I would do things differently- sleep in, have tea at breakfast instead of coffee, do some things I normally wouldn’t do, make other random variations in the day.

But it turned out I ended up doing everything actually as I always do. So, it seems as if I do not have free will- that my body and brain are basically just working out of causality, or following through Divine Will.

I can’t believe you **always **repeat everything in exactly the same way. Do you never change your opinions?

 

[SentinelofTruth]

polytropos:

Including making this topic? I only see one copy.