Mind control and free will

[WannabeSaint]

Is it logically possible for one to have their will completely controlled by someone else?

I’m not talking about manipulation and brainwashing.

I’m talking about completely losing our will and doing the bidding of some one elses will as if we are a robot (Our conscious choices are literally someone else’s “programmed” into us)

 

[STT]

No one can take your free will.

 

[IWantGod]

There is talk, or should i say conspiracy theories, about technology being developed for such an end. But i really don’t think we are there yet personally. I think it’s just paranoia.

Our freedom is what we value the most, so naturally we fear it being taken away from us. However, It would not surprise me if government projects testing these possibilities exist. There is real world motivation for having control over a population or an enemy threat.

 

[AlmaRedemptorisMater]

Take the issue of hypnosis, as a example. You must concede to be hypnotized, that is, there is a free choice of yours to allow this. It is all a matter of persuasion, but you still retain free will through it all.

 

[EZweber]

It is also possible to lose control of your body to addiction or demonic possession, but this is normally impossible without some consent, and in any case, your soul is free.

 

[EZweber]

Just to clarify, the only way I can think of for addiction to happen without your consent is along the lines of someone force-feeding you opium.

 

[Richca]

Is it logically possible for one to have their will completely controlled by someone else?

I’m not talking about manipulation and brainwashing.

I’m talking about completely losing our will and doing the bidding of some one elses will as if we are a robot (Our conscious choices are literally someone else’s “programmed” into us)

No. St. Thomas Aquinas says that God alone can efficiently move the will working interiorly in the soul. No creature, angelic or earthly, can efficiently move the will which is a spiritual power of the soul besides the person in a certain sense who possesses the will. The will can be influenced by manipulating various organs or mechanisms of the body such as a drunk person under the influence of alcohol or narcotics or hallucinogenic drugs. But, in this respect and under such influence, the natural voluntary character of the will is hindered since in this life where the soul is the form of the body, the will and intellect depend on the normal and proper operation of the body and its various organs and lower powers of the soul for their own proper operation.