Do Atheists believe in free-will?

[Doktormartini]

Yes because we (or at least me) don't believe there is a higher power, thus there is no one to control us other than ourselves.

 

[Ryan2065]

Yes because we (or at least me) don't believe there is a higher power, thus there is no one to control us other than ourselves.

You can have no free will without a higher power... The whole cause and effect thing!

 

[gnostic]

I feel like having some donuts right now. :eat:

Is that free-will? Or is having "craving" for donuts was pre-ordained or fate?

:no: I think I will have my donuts later........It's a little early.

:drool:

 

[LordFlagg]

Atheists can believe whatever they want. We just dont believe in an invisable man who created the universe and cares whether or not we follow his rules which we're told to blindly accept.

Some would argue for determinism through scientific evidence. I neither accept nor refute this belief. I dont like to believe it. I like to believe in free will but I dont have any evidence to back that up so I cant say for sure.

 

[Willamena]

Atheists can believe whatever they want. We just dont believe in an invisable man who created the universe and cares whether or not we follow his rules which we're told to blindly accept.

ahh.... you can believe in whatever you want, you just can't believe in whatever.

Some would argue for determinism through scientific evidence. I neither accept nor refute this belief. I dont like to believe it. I like to believe in free will but I dont have any evidence to back that up so I cant say for sure.

Determinism doesn't contradict free will. That both are facts should indicate to the good scientist that one or the other is misunderstood.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Determinism doesn't contradict free will. That both are facts ...

Finally! After centuries of discourse by the most brilliant minds in philosophy and theology (and, more recently, neuroscience), we've finally found someone who can claim compatibilism as fact. And by a self-proclaimed agnostic no less.

 

[Willamena]

Finally! After centuries of discourse by the most brilliant minds in philosophy and theology (and, more recently, neuroscience), we've finally found someone who can claim compatibilism as fact. And by a self-proclaimed agnostic no less.

The "most brilliant minds in philosophy and theology" have their own world views (and are welcome to it).

My statement has a philosophical basis, too: Divination 101. Needless to say, it is a philosophical basis that has been adamantly opposed and rejected over the millennia. It also requires a particular understanding of the subject/object divide, which I've found to also be adamantly opposed on occasion.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

It also requires a particular understanding ...

No doubt! :biglaugh:

 

[Willamena]

No doubt! :biglaugh:

My point, exactly.

 

[eudaimonia]

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

I personally believe in a limited kind of free will (though more than just compatibilism) for various philosophical reasons, mainly involving agent-causality and emergent properties.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[giant space amoeba]

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

I think there is a limited form of free will. Oh i dont beleive in pre-destination clearly because that would imply a deity that interests with the universe.

I think though that the choices we make are limted by external factors and events and what we are capable of doing or not doing.

 

[None]

Free-will is anything up to the limits of our Mental and Physical abilities. Free-will stops when we reach those limits.

 

[Slightly Perfect]

Originally Posted by SPLogan
Do Atheists believe in free-will?
Why or why not?


Honestly, I'm a postmodernist and an atheist, so I can't speak for every atheist, nor can I outline my entire belief system in a religious forum. I believe the human consciousness is no more than a construct. I cannot believe that humanity is capable of free will because we are bound to physical laws. Oh sure, we want to think we're more than our brain functioning, but in truth, if any part of your brain was rewired, you'd be a different person. You're only here as long as your brain is.

 

[Darkness]

I believe in Combatibilistic Free-Will. Our minds do not make uncaused decisions, yet as long as we are not under the control of another's will, we are Free. In other words, as long as our minds are chosing a particular action and not an outside force, we have Free- Will. If that was vague, I will clarify.

 

[Rolling_Stone]

Do Atheists believe in free-will?

Not if they are intellectually consistent.

 

[Jaymes]

I don't believe there's something out there controlling what I do, if that's what you mean.

 

[Random]

Not if they are intellectually consistent.

Bravo, correct answer.

 

[gnomon]

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.

Jaiket wins the thread.

The question, as it is asked, is meaningless.

 

[Willamena]

Not if they are intellectually consistent.

How so?

 

[eudaimonia]

Not if they are intellectually consistent.

Sigh.