Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!bbn!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!dalcs!iisat!paulg
From: paulg@iisat.UUCP (Paul Gauthier)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: More Free Will
Summary: There is no such thing as free will...
Message-ID: <2@iisat.UUCP>
Date: 13 May 88 21:57:50 GMT
References: <3200017@uiucdcsm> <730@papaya.bbn.com>
Organization: International Information Service, Dart., NS
Lines: 31


 I'm sorry, but there is no free will. Every one of us is bound by the
laws of physics. No one can lift a 2000 tonne block of concrete with his
bare hands. No one can do the impossible, and in this sense none of us have
free will.
 
 I am partially wrong there, as long as you don't WANT to do the impossible
you can have a sort of free will. But as soon as you feel that you want to
do something that cannot be done then your free will is gone.

 Let me define my idea of free will: Free will is being able to take any
course of action which you want to take. So if you never want to take a
course of action which is forbidden to you, your free will is retained.
 
 Free will is completely subjective. There is no 'absolute free will.' At
least that is how I look at free will. Since it is subjective to the person
whose free will is in question it follows that as long as this person THINKS
he is experiencing free will then he is. If he doesn't know that his decisions
are being made for him, and he THINKS they are his own free choices then he
is NOT being forced into a course of action he doesn't desire so he has free
will.
 
 Anyways, I suppose there'll be a pile of rebuttles against this (gosh, I
hope so -- I love debates!).


-- 
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