Is free-will an illusion?

@Briancrc,

Hypnosis and ouija board spelling, huh? Amusing but these are very special circumstances to test free will. You might as well test how well a car runs by driving it off the cliff.

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

My point is that determinism is like god: unprovable and unnecessary. Pure metaphysics.

2 Replies

@Olivier5,

You still didn't get it do ya ? Supposing indeterminism is true then you don't have free will. I explain you why a dozen times already. Its the well knon classical argument on why indeterminism is INCOMPATIBLE with free will. Google it...

2 Replies

Its quite entertaining when one thinks about how Quantum Physics can only be saved by "Reason"...not "sensory data"...atm no one knows how to deal with it...bottom line, laughter comes to mind....so much naivety going around the block.

0 Replies

@Fil Albuquerque,

Huh. Good idea. In an indeterministic world, the mind would be undetermined, but as a consequence would be unable to determine/affect its environment. Double-edged sword, that indeterminacy.

1 Reply

@FBM,

Yes indeed...very double edged and sharp sword we talking about here...

0 Replies

@Olivier5,

Quote:

You might as well test how well a car runs by driving it off the cliff

I don't get the analogy. How is driving a car off a cliff like attributing the wrong cause to a response?

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

Quote:

My point is that determinism is like god: unprovable and unnecessary.

This, actually, has been the argument for free will. There has been evidence to show that people do what they do for lawful reasons.

There has been no evidence discussed here for free will; just assertions.

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

Why the constant agressivity, fil? Are you predetermined to behave as a bitch?

Google it yourself. I'm not here to make your case for you.

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

You called me thick when I have explained you why at least half a dozen times already and I am the agressive one ? Why don't you try to read what I write with attention ? Since you do not respond to the authority of reason as you should my advise for you to google it is a last appeal to the reason of authority....it seams it fits you better.
(I have nothing agains't you personally)

1 Reply

@Briancrc,

I said: Testing free will under hypnosis is like testing a car by driving it off the cliff.

1 Reply

@Briancrc,

If free will is a metaphysical idea, then it can't be proven OR DISPROVEN with ANY evidence. Metaphysics, by definition, are beyond the realm of empirical evidence ("physics"). Determinism for instance can't really be proven or disproved completly with experimental evidence. Hence it is a metaphysical assumption. A subject for pure philosophy. In other words, it's irrelevant, just as gods are.

I believe free will is a practical issue, or at least that they are practical, empirical aspects in some views of free will. So it's not purely metaphysical and we can thus conduct scientific experiments about it. In short, unlike determinism, free will is falsifiable.

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

You behave as a clown. Your due has been given to you many many times already. Free will requires SOME causation but not determinism. How many times do I need to explain it to you? Thick does not even START to describe you.

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

...back to where you belong idiot. If no one as yet told you are a ridiculous litle French, not even good enough for pseudo intelectual. Layman is twice as smart as you will ever be and is on ignore for stupidity already.
You are a sour loser, an envious soul, that whenever is put on the spot shows his true colours...sad lad.

1 Reply

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0021612

Quote:

In summary, we could replicate the finding of Soon et al. [30] that motor intentions were encoded in frontopolar cortex up to seven seconds before participants were aware of their decisions. Using ultra-high field fMRI on a 7 Tesla scanner, we could show that these patterns became more stable with increasing temporal proximity to the conscious decision. These findings support the conclusion that frontopolar cortex is part of a network of brain regions that shape conscious decisions long before they reach conscious awareness.

2 Replies

@FBM,

Finally we got an answer, the pathetic little French is a Libertarian who yet still ridiculously believes he fathers his actions through magic...because he cannot determine what to do next from his own volition.

0 Replies

@Olivier5,

You may have thought it differently than how you typed it, but thanks for the clarification.

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil Albuquerque wrote:

...back to where you belong idiot. If no one as yet told you are a ridiculous litle French, not even good enough for pseudo intelectual. Layman is twice as smart as you will ever be and is on ignore for stupidity already.
You are a sour loser, an envious soul, that whenever is put on the spot shows his true colours...sad lad.

I think you're the sore looser here, and you know it... :-)

But I forgive you. Meat robots can't own up to what they do.

1 Reply

@Olivier5,

Quote:

I believe free will is a practical issue, or at least that they are practical, empirical aspects in some views of free will. So it's not purely metaphysical and we can thus conduct scientific experiments about it. In short, unlike determinism, free will is falsifiable.

Yes, I do understand that there are views that there are practical and moral implications. I do see your view of testability/falsifiability differently. If behavior was not susceptible to the environmental influences of its consequences, and if prediction, verification, and replication (control) could not be achieved, then I think there would be no evidence for the environmental determinants of behavior. I think there are sound, logical reasons for making arguments relative to the extent to which the empirical evidence demonstrated can be generalized, but those arguments, in my opinion, seem more reasoned than are ones that dismiss the evidence entirely.

1 Reply

@Briancrc,

I typed it clearly enough:

Olivier5 wrote:

Hypnosis and ouija board spelling, huh? Amusing but these are very special circumstances to test free will. You might as well test how well a car runs by driving it off the cliff.

0 Replies

Is free-will an illusion?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know