Free will an illusion created by brain: Study

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GEddie said:
Only if one held that free will was altogether a mirage.

Admitting that we are a great deal **less **free than we imagine just admits our weakness and limitations.

ICXC NIKA.
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You and I have some similar feelings about free will.
 
Ridgerunner said:
There you go Joseph3, exercising that free will again! 🙂
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LOL.

I remember reading a fascinating article some years ago (pre-internet) about scientific studies that prove that the part of the human brain that led it to take its body to the water fountain and gulp down luscious, life-sustaining H20 kicked in way before the part of the human brain that signaled to its body that it was thirsty as all get out.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
I read where people claimed that cause and effect eliminates the concept of “free will.”

They argue that the choices we make, are actually the effect from a biological cause in the body.

To some extent this is true especially as scientist have found that rage is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain during a time of stress.

Of course free will would be the person knowing this, would take steps to help reduce the amount of rage or how to control it. Awareness is the key.

A good book where the author opposes such rationalization is, “Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain” by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Dr Gazzaniga is a neuro-scientists and does a good job showing that for the most part, we in fact have free will.

The choices we make, may be influenced by various biological and psychological conditions, but in the end, its our choice.

The article in the OP suggests that we merely convince ourselves that we made a free choice.

I’m not accepting this hypothesis.

Jim
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Gazzaniga is the final word when it comes to (cognitive) neuroscience. No one is beyond criticism, of course, but I tend to have more respect for this researcher than most others.
 
J_Peterson said:
Whether the conscious mind or subconscious mind makes the decision, it was still made by us. Why do they not consider the subconscious to be a part of us?
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If you are referring to the Freudian unconscious, Freud’s theories are largely deterministic, both biologically and psychologically. There is little to no free will involved. OTOH, if you mean the unconscious in the way cognitive psychologists use the term, free will does indeed play a role.
 
I wonder what the authors of that study do when coming to a fork in the road. There must be a lot of them piled up there.
 
Those who reject free will always point to the cases where it can be shown that a behavior is organically determined, even if the subject behavior is believed to be an actual choice by the person engaging in the behavior.

That in no way negates all the cases where people show themselves capable to consciously make a decision and follow through on that decision according to a plan that they have laid out according to their conscious will.

Impulse and reflex are definitely factors in human behavior, and they need to be. No one batting at a ball or returning a badminton birdie becomes great by pondering what they are doing. Pulling oneself away from the TV or keyboard to practice and hone those reflexes however is a choice that people make according to an act of will, sometimes supreme will even.

Likewise people, and people who tend to be impulsive, will never be fully in control of their impulses. They are however in charge of what they are feeding into their brains. The principle of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is a facet of what our impulses will be in the first place. Feeding our brains with the Bible and great spiritual works will have a different impact on our impulses than feeding it with pornography and trash TV.

We are organic. We are biology. We are inextricably created as body. The Christian response has never been to deny the body, and all that being a body entails. The Christian response has been to transform the body into a sacrament, to make the Body our Temple.
And that is a choice for each and every one of us.
 
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