Do Atheists believe in free-will? (choices, choice, evolution, doctrine)

[SPLogan]

Do Atheists believe in free-will?
Why or why not?

[Booko]

Originally Posted by SPLogan

Do Atheists believe in free-will?
Why or why not?

Uh, when I was an athiest, certainly I did believe in free will.

In the absence of some postulated Great-Omnipotent-Being, I don't know how one can believe in anything but free will.

But maybe someone else will explain how that's possible.

[Jaiket]

Atheists are under no obligation to believe one way or the other or to even consider the issue. Questions that start with "Do atheists believe in..." and don't end with "...God/s?" have no objective answer.

I personally think of free-will as a emotional consequence of our evolutionary development. Our complex biochemical processes that provide us with pattern detecting capabilities also instill in us the feeling that we acted according to our 'will' instead of, as I currently see it, according to our programming both genetic and environmental.

[Random]

An Atheist who believes in cosmic or genetic determinism might not believe in freewill. An atheist is as entitled to believe freewill is an illusion as a theist or a believer of any sort. However, obviously if there is no freewill then the atheist could not make the decision to believe or not believe in freewill.

If one must temper Atheism with humanism or naturalism to give it some depth, as one generally must, then most atheistic naturalists and humanists will naturally and humanely affirm freewill as a fundamental tenant of our existence, because as Booko rightly pointed out, in the absence of God there is little else, no rational basis to deny it and no ultimate divine authority to take it away. Again though, that is unless you consider the universe to be deterministic, in which case you only think you make choices but all your choices are predetermined by the circumstances in which they are made.

Conversely, most reputable theologians would posit the inverse argument, that authentic freewill can only be actualized in humans with God and by God, but that is a deeper debate which atheists do not generally address themselves to or try to refute.

[SPLogan]

Originally Posted by Booko

In the absence of some postulated Great-Omnipotent-Being, I don't know how one can believe in anything but free will.
But maybe someone else will explain how that's possible.

What I was thinking when I asked the question is- on one hand, it seems like free-will is fundamental to atheism. On the other hand, the scientific principle of cause and effect is widely accepted by atheists.

So if every action or entity has a cause or origin, then even ideas and volition must be the effect of a particular cause. If that is true, one's will is not really free; it is bound by the forces of nature. In other words, human will is equally as free as that of inanimate objects moving through outer-space (under that line of reasoning). They will not change course unless they are made to do so by something outside of themselves.

One could simply not believe in the principal of cause and effect, or...
Maybe I'm missing something.

[Random]

Originally Posted by SPLogan

What I was thinking when I asked the question is- on one hand, it seems like free-will is fundamental to atheism. On the other hand, the scientific principle of cause and effect is widely accepted by atheists.

So if every action or entity has a cause or origin, then even ideas and volition must be the effect of a particular cause. If that is true, one's will is not really free; it is bound by the forces of nature. In other words, human will is equally as free as that of inanimate objects moving through outer-space (under that line of reasoning). They will not change course unless they are made to do so by something outside of themselves.

One could simply not believe in the principal of cause and effect, or...
Maybe I'm missing something.

You're missing "compatibalism", which is the doctrine that there can be a cause-and-effect structure to everything experiential yet this can be and is in harmony with the divergent variables of freewill activity.

[SPLogan]

Originally Posted by Godlike

You're missing "compatibalism", which is the doctrine that there can be a cause-and-effect structure to everything experiential yet this can be and is in harmony with the divergent variables of freewill activity.

So this doctrine, is belief in a supernatural force or forces that effect volition?
Hmm... that doesn't make sense, because even a supernatural "variable" (force) is a force none-the-less.
Even if the force is "in harmony with" human volition, it still binds the volition of each individual to an entity outside of him/her self, even if that outside entity is free.

Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying.

[nutshell]

Originally Posted by SPLogan

Do Atheists believe in free-will?
Why or why not?

Some do and some don't. You'll have to examine the different theories of psychology to get the details.

[nutshell]

The strictest behavioral psychologists do not believe in free will.

[lamplighter]

I would say a large percentage of secularists view free will as the most probable, although I believe your free will is greatly effected by knowledge and any lack there of.