2 ms·

The reason I think we should assume we have free will is a moral one. If you believe you don't have free will, it can be easy to excuse all sorts of behaviour,

• pistachiopro 7y ago
  I agree there would be a large moral shift, and it kind of boggles my mind to try to think about it, but I don't think it's necessarily untenable. Taking the candy bar example, in current society, even someone who doesn't believe in free will probably won't steal a candy bar, since there's a good chance they'll get caught, and then shamed and fined. There can still be a system of rules without a sense of free will. The mindset would probably affect every aspect of life, but just looking at criminal justice, my intuition is that we would reduce how retributive it is, and switch to something more rehabilitation focused. Then again, it's hard to imagine what the knock on effects of that would be. I could see it going too far and getting exploited. Still, I'd be happy to see society experiment with moves that direction.
• bellerose 7y ago
  That's the typical assumption that has no statistical evidence and is made by someone who thinks the illusion of free will is good for society. I suggest first try thinking about how people would observe all daily things while understanding free will is an illusion. Also think of the lives that are ruined because of bias to someone who happens to be a minority such as LGBT. Empathy for a minority is created when understanding there is really no choice and how they're born into a reality where they're labeled as not the norm.