LoneTyranitar said:I would just lock this now, as destiny is a result of free-will which is slightly obvious but it still has discussion value however religion affects people's opinion on this kind of thing way too much not for a flame war not to happen.
PMJ said:Can we please not turn this into God debate. Just saying, cause the mere mention of God is going to set someone off. Be careful, y'all.
What makes a religious debate so much worse than, say, a political debate? I'd figure the 1st would be more important, since this is how you live your life we're talking about, I'd think you should at least be able to defend it properly. Just because I get offended when someone mentions poetry doesn't mean it shouldn't be mentioned, it means I should man up.PMJ said:Can we please not turn this into God debate. Just saying, cause the mere mention of God is going to set someone off. Be careful, y'all.
bacon said:"Free Will is a philosophical term of art for a particular sort of capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives."
This is a pretty acceptable definition, but many people make the mistake that free will is something that you either do or do not have, with no room in between. Clearly, there are different values of free will- a woman living in America will probably have more choices available to her than a woman living in Afghanistan, for example.
The definition of free will is vague nevertheless. Say someone promises you eternal salvation if you worship him, and will make you burn forever if you don't. Is this still free will? Technically, you can choose not to, but the rules of the game are made so it's realistically not an option.SixNumbers said:I don't agree that there are different levels of free will. You either have it or you don't. In your example a woman living in Afghanistan has the same amount of free will as the woman living in America. The woman in Afghanistan has fewer OPTIONS but the same amount of free will. Both women can make whatever decisions they want but those choices will lead them to different end points (most-likely).
Heavenly Spoon :F said:The definition of free will is vague nevertheless. Say someone promises you eternal salvation if you worship him, and will make you burn forever if you don't. Is this still free will? Technically, you can choose not to, but the rules of the game are made so it's realistically not an option.
Heavenly Spoon :F said:Another example; you have been indoctrinated as a child to believe that committing terrorist attacks (hooray for extreme examples!) is the cool thing to do. You've been trained in the art of pushing a button, and you've been taught that this one act of terrorism is your ultimate goal in life. When you are about to do it, you technically still have a choice, or do you? And is this your choice?
Well, at that very second before pushing the almighty button you technically still have a million options to choose from. Although alot of these options are very unlikely. Like suddenly realizing it was wrong to eat your whole life meat and becoming a vegetarian, greeting an old man, buying a tomato from your neighbour or just simply don't push the button. So there is some free will, although the chance he indeed pushes the button would be around 99%.Heavenly Spoon :F said:Another example; you have been indoctrinated as a child to believe that committing terrorist attacks (hooray for extreme examples!) is the cool thing to do. You've been trained in the art of pushing a button, and you've been taught that this one act of terrorism is your ultimate goal in life. When you are about to do it, you technically still have a choice, or do you? And is this your choice?
The examples are endless!
SixNumbers said:It looks like someone saw the LOST premier tonight, Lol. I'm guessing that's where the idea for this topic came from?