Free Will: Soft Determinism vs Hard Determinism vs Existentialism

the whole free will thing is always hard to actually talk about because so much of our language assumes free will in the usual sense..
 
all of our actions are a result of cause and effect if someone took the time/had the means to trace them to such a degree

that should not/does not take away from the meaning of our every day lives and we should strive as individuals and as cooperative beings to reach the best of all possible worlds
 
p.s. i have written a very high quality paper about the intersection of quantum mechanics and determinism if you'd like to purchase it
 
We are slaves to our needs/desires. As a result, everything we do is determined by something we need or want.

Example. You have to take a shit. You WILL go take a shit somewhere (toilet, hole in the ground, your pants, someone else's chest...somewhere).

I remember reading that in PHI 121.
 
Zxqv8 said:
We are slaves to our needs/desires. As a result, everything we do is determined by something we need or want.

Example. You have to take a shit. You WILL go take a shit somewhere (toilet, hole in the ground, your pants, someone else's chest...somewhere).

I remember reading that in PHI 121.
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that's a very primitive and amateur look at individuals that doesn't take anything (in terms of our environment) into account.

we are not a slave to our desires, and while they may influence us they do not determine our lives one way or another.

it is also very tricky ground to bring about the idea of 'human nature', survival is a basic concept that is pretty much agreed upon in all species. regardless, we are not a slave to even that (ie. self-sacrifice).
 
You made this thread because you needed help with a paper you're writing.
You're writing the paper because you were assigned it.
You were assigned it because you're in a class.
You're in the class because you signed up for it.
You signed up for it because you thought the class would be interesting.

And so on.

My best bet is that free will doesen't exist. But even if I'm right that doesen't mean we should give up. Mainly because that would be boring.
 
jotun said:
no, it's a crappy point and really doesn't have much to do with his subject
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It may be crappy, but it DOES have much to do with his subject because its about determinism.
 
scy7he said:
You made this thread because you needed help with a paper you're writing.
You're writing the paper because you were assigned it.
You were assigned it because you're in a class.
You're in the class because you signed up for it.
You signed up for it because you thought the class would be interesting.

And so on.
Click to expand...

Same arguement as Zxqv8, only better said. Large part of the arguement for hard determinism.

Certain conditions lead to a very specific outcome. Problem is identifying all of these conditions. One condition could be the past experiences of the person invovled.
For instance, I got the idea to make this because a person in an early class turned in a forum discussion as his paper (different assignment than this).
 
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