3 ms·

How do you define free will?

• HarHarVeryFunny 5y ago
  I define free will as the belief that you have some choice in your actions, rather than them being proscribed by the wiring of your brain. Normally belief in free will is based on some dualistic non-physical notion of self.
  • schwartzworld 5y ago
    What's the difference between "I chose X because I wanted it" and "I chose X because my brain was wired to want it"?
    • HarHarVeryFunny 5y ago
      The real point is that there is no choice at all. Free will is an illusion. The first sentence is fine - it's how we all speak - as long as you understand the conventions you are using - what the words "I", "chose" and "wanted" really mean. The second sentence seems intended to be the more technically accurate one, but IMO it's really worse since it's a mish-mash of levels of abstraction. It would be better expressed as "I did that because my brain was wired to do that" (or better yet "because my brain was wired to predict that", but that's a whole other story). Your brain doesn't have "wants" (that's a pyschological concept), and it seems odd to characterize your actions as a "choice" while in the same sentence(!) accepting that your actions are controlled by your brains wiring, and therefore there was no choice!