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Post by Jamie Soden on Nov 24, 2014 0:53:44 GMT
Great points, Jaime and Chandler! With free will belief comes this uncertainty about what others can potentially do, even though it goes against their character and personality and upbringing, any time they want, leading to much greater apprehension than when we appreciate that we can trust people, because they don't have a free will, to remain relatively constant in their ways. Indeed, with 100% uncertainty you end up with the problem where a persons reputation or prior education/achievements would mean nothing and that the person you're associated with could randomly just turn against you without provocation.
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Post by shaung on Nov 24, 2014 8:02:07 GMT
Free Will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain prevailing factors. I do still believe life has some sort of meaning to it.
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Post by chandlerklebs on Nov 24, 2014 10:13:57 GMT
And if someone did act differently than their personality, we will know there is a cause for it and try to find out what has changed. We know people change but not of their own accord or without cause.
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Post by chandlerklebs on Nov 24, 2014 10:18:42 GMT
Free Will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain prevailing factors. I do still believe life has some sort of meaning to it. The great news is that having meaning in our lives does not require us to have free will. I would say that we discover meaning rather than decide what our meaning is.
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Post by Jamie Soden on Nov 24, 2014 15:00:34 GMT
Free Will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain prevailing factors. I do still believe life has some sort of meaning to it. The great news is that having meaning in our lives does not require us to have free will. I would say that we discover meaning rather than decide what our meaning is. Well said, you don't need free will to appreciate life, we're doing that just fine now. Here is a thought process challenge for free will believers; don't get angry about anything, if you did get angry, why did you get angry? If you're a billionaire, give money to help the homeless and under privileged, if you didn't, why didn't you? don't go to the hospital when you're required to have a blood test, if you didn't, why didn't you? If there is a cause for these decisions (which there is) free will is impossible.
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Post by George Ortega on Nov 28, 2014 19:36:45 GMT
Free Will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain prevailing factors. I do still believe life has some sort of meaning to it. Yes, although our not having a free will means that our meaning in life changes, in the sense that we're really only experiencing rather than determining our actions, we still have the same kind of enjoyment we ordinarily have when we watch a movie, knowing that nothing of what we see is in any way up to us. Also, understanding that we don't have a free will means that what we do must be the universe's or God's will, and that tends to imbue all we do with more significance than if it was simply up to us a humans.
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Post by chandlerklebs on Nov 28, 2014 22:28:16 GMT
I agree that I feel like it means more to think that my actions are part of something bigger than myself. I tend to think of myself as part of the one universal Life.
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