Philosophically speaking, do we actually have free will?

Question

We are born caged by cicrumstance. We are put in a situation not of our own making. We do not decide at birth where we live, who our parents are, how wealthy we are, etc.

At a certain point, we gain control of our action. But do we ever gain total control of our emotion? I tend to doubt it. Emotions are not always products of our will. If I slam in to a chair, I feel pain, and then I feel annoyed at the inanimate object despite it not consciously hurting me. Therefore I am not using reason, I simply felt one thing and emotion outside of my control instantly responded (with no time for me to reason through it logically).

We may be able to decide our actions in a free society, but then we assume we have complete control over ourselves. Do we really? Do you always feel in control, and never have a misplaced thought or emotion?

If we are caged by circumstance and emotion, are we ever truly free?

Answer 1

Two flawed premises: 1. You're not making a separation between immediate emotions and cognitive emotions. Yes we generally react to immediate felt pain or pleasure, but the high-end emotions, like love or anger, seem to require cognitive evaluation. Additionally, the reaction to immediate pain can and is changed by training, which is why boxers can keep boxing. 2. For free will to be free doesn't mean it has to be "free" of reality. What if free will is a skill, meaning the more you learn how to exercise it the more you do? This would seem to follow the pathway of maturity that we get more control as we mature, but at certain point it's up to us to expand it or not.



Normally I would've answered in far more depth, but alas I don't have that much time today.



Edit:



Cognitive therapy operates on the exact opposite notion (and the one that conforms to the common sense "sense" that we have free will), which is that "love" is a thought not just a chemical, but not to say it's not chemically based. This would suggest that "free will" is bounded and is ongoing circular process: chemical changes thought, thought changes chemical, etc.



We are not free from perception; those who are free from perception are having hallucinations, which is not free will, it's insanity. We are free at the conceptual level, not the perception level, and then can act or not act upon those thoughts. I assume you've been taught your whole life the opposite of you example; namely that stealing is wrong. Yet you're able to imagine the alternative so why would you think someone taught the contrary couldn't? It doesn't mean they would, but they could. Going back to my earlier statement, think of free will as a skill, which sadly means many will never become skillful at it. Meaning in general we would expect those exposed to less would have less means to practice the use of their free will, but they always have it. In other words, since we're free at the conceptual level the more ability we have to conceptualize the more we can exercise our free will.



Edit 2;



By accident I came across, while I was eating lunch, the second source I list below. It doesn't address the main debate here, but it does illuminate the notion I expressed here of free will being a skill

Answer 2

Now, I can go into depth as to why I agree with your rhetorical question, but you've pretty much done that for me. So in the name of short,simple responses, I don't think we have genuine free will. And should we come across a point in life when we have to make a very hard decision that could not have been previously anticipated, then whatever choice was made, was the destined decision. Right now I can grab a pebble and throw it at a wall, and no matter how random it seems, I believe that I was MEANT to throw that pebble. Its a little hard to understand and Im sure there are philosophers still today that ponder the question, but in MY opinion, I do not believe we have free will, over how are lives are lived that is.

Answer 3

We can control some things, we can't control everything.



We can know some things, we can't know everything.



We can slow down the process of aging, but we cannot live forever.





We do have free will, but the extent of our free will is variable and subjective.



I think we do have free will but not 100%. This, however, does not mean we can't give a high percentage of our efforts but it is not quantitive. We won't always but if life was all hunky dory and there were no choices whatsoever, there would be no point. If everything was perfect, if nothing could ever be improved, then where would the uniqueness of every individuals journey come from?

Answer 4

Yes, we have free will but not in the context that you are describing. The conditioned ego is limited by the box that confined us as children and is primarily a defensive belief system that controls our perception, thoughts, reactions and feelings. It is very conflicted. Thus in that state of mind we have no free will and are simply reactive programming - which includes the chemical imprints of all the intense defining moments of our past life that remain in the body memory.



But, usually, when human beings encounter enough suffering, they begins to ask, "Why does this keep happening?," and we begin to Observe the patterns of cause & effect and are able to alter the automatic reactions for a better outcome.



Developing this detached Witness/Observer opens the doorway out of our perceptual distortions/prison and free will is reclaimed little by little until Reality mirrors our authentic intentions.



There are numerous methods for accomplishing this shift in consciousness through transformation.

Answer 5

The only uncontrolled freedom that exists universally is freedom of thought. Freedom of speech is regulated; the concept of free speech cannot exist in a society that has libel and slander laws. Free will is limited until the age of 18, or 21 in some countries, after that we are free only to a point. We must pay the government dues, we must be slaves to commercialism. Complete free will is an impossible idea.

Answer 6

I think yes, because we are free to do any work in our own ways,

though I believe, the degree of free will

directly corresponds to the level of the consciousness or the awareness of the being.

I mean, a more conscious being possesses a more free will as compare to a less conscious being.

Answer 7

Philosophically speaking, we ultimately own our existence to the single will, the will to live. That will did not come with any knowledge of the reality or its circumstances. It is a biological will generated by the body, the body reacts to it, and poses limitations on it.

Answer 8

we are free and at the same time restricted . we are like a child that we have given them freedom to do painting on the wall while wall is out of their reach. or like a prisoner who their feet is chained to a tree by 3 meter long chain while has freedom to move as far as they can

Answer 9

Yes we have free will, or at least that is what the powers that control my destiny allow me to say.

Answer 10

will is free to use. debt or its opposite comes over what we use it for. that is, use of will IN ITSELF creates no consequence, but everything we do with it does. that is because its use creates redirection of the causal chain. simple.

Answer 11

If the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed.



In the meanwhile you play the hand you are dealt, but yours is still the choice.

Answer 12

Doomed to have to make choices

Answer 13

wow beauty and wisdom





please marry me