Quote:Here's an interesting question that I have been pondering.  

 

Is there anything that happens without a cause?  Is anything literally spontaneous?   Is everything that happens caused by something that happened before?   Like billiard balls on a billiard table.   Action, reaction.  Ad infinitum.   One thing causes another. 

 

Now, assume your answer is, nothing happens that wasn't caused by something else.  What does this say about free will?  It says that free will is an illusion.  

 

Causal Determinism

 

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinism-causal/

 

"Causal determinism is, roughly speaking, the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature. The idea is ancient, but first became subject to clarification and mathematical analysis in the eighteenth century. Determinism is deeply connected with our understanding of the physical sciences and their explanatory ambitions, on the one hand, and with our views about human free action on the other. In both of these general areas there is no agreement over whether determinism is true (or even whether it can be known true or false), and what the import for human agency would be in either case."

 

Here's another definition from the same article: 

 

"Causal determinism: The world is governed by (or is under the sway of) determinism if and only if, given a specified way things are at a time t, the way things go thereafter is fixed as a matter of natural law."

 

So the underlying question is, if you believe in causal determinism, that everything that happens has a cause, is a person truly responsible for his or her own actions?   If everything you do is caused by a combination of your own experience, your genetics, and your environment, then you cannot be blamed for your own mistakes and you cannot be given credit for your achievements.   It was all determined at the time of the big bang.  It's predestined. 

 

Please discuss.  

 

So, essentially, your question is basically "Do you believe in Destiny, that your life and actions have been pre-planned and pre-ordained?"

 

To simply answer this question. In short, No. No, I do not believe in Destiny and I do not believe that some God or Cosmic Force of Nature pre-planned my entire deck of cards and knew how the game would be played out until the day of my own death.

 

It's ridiculous to throw this on the table as an excuse for horrific acts against humanity throughout the centuries of mankind. To say that because of this I am not responsible for my stupidity or crimes. I absolutely refuse to believe in this theory or concept. We were born with free will to an extent. Depending on where you're born or from. You may or may not have free will. But free will exists in nature. We choose to make the right decisions or wrong decisions. We choose to help or hinder ourselves or others that we come across in life.

 

I don't see "Free Will" being an illusion. I'll say that, in some parts of the world that you may have a very corrupt and greedy force of people striving to take that away from us though. And you can take that seriously or with a grain of salt. I won't put my tinfoil hat on or anything. But the waters run deep when you look at a few key families throughout the history books and the roles they've played in helping or hindering this world in general. They may want to pre-plan our future and pre-ordain our future generations. But I won't chalk that up to any unseen force outside of our universe. Atleast not yet.

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