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Why is Free Will a Mystery? | Episode 1012 | Closer To Truth



Closer To Truth

Our human sense is that our will is fully free. Our scientific sense is that every action is determined by a prior action. Free will versus determinism is a big question, affecting morality, responsibility, even consciousness. Featuring interviews with John Searle, Richard Swinburne, Ned Block, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Alfred Mele, Thalia Wheatley, Jenann Ismael, Adina Roskies, Tim Bayne, David Hunt, and Alvin Plantinga.

Season 10, Episode 12 – #CloserToTruth

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Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant.

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Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

#FreeWill #Philosophy Your source for the study of philosophy and college philosophy class materials.

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50 thoughts on “Why is Free Will a Mystery? | Episode 1012 | Closer To Truth
  1. Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker’s heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.

    Baha’u’llah

  2. There is no reason for free will to stay a mystery. Free will is the possibility you have to reason and make conscious choices, it's as simple as that. Humans in this world have lost there free will by bowing to the intellect "throne of Lucifer" and you have become creatures of Lucifer. Salvation has nothing to do with an original sin, it has to do with the rebellion of Lucifer. Toughful people have been snatched from his grip.

  3. Religiously speaking, God gave Lucifer a choice – free will – from there there’s the story of Jesus who walked and talked for people to believe or not believe, He didn’t force people to believe, still free will, God has a message and wants people to choose bc there is no love without choice, now with that said I simply use religion as an example, but the way punishment and reward is used to influence choice I don’t necessarily agree with, hell is to widely thrown around I think, it’s more complicated than that.

  4. If you replace "free will" with "hunger" or "love" or any other feeling, you realise how absurd this whole line of questioning is. Is hunger related to specific patterns in our brain activity ? Absolutely. It's a construct of the brain in that sense. Is it independent of any physical causes ? No. Does it mean it's an illusion then ? Absolutely not. Nobody treats it like it is. I believe feelings are fundamental for reality. I'd change the traditional "I think therefore I am" to "I feel therefore I am".

  5. Plantinga continues to make the same mistake he did in his response to Nelson Pike's formulation of the problem. It is completely irrelevant what God believes in some possible world or other. The relevant question is whether it is logically possible for someone to do something other than what God believes he will do in the actual world. The question Plantinga must address, but fails to do so, is whether the proposition, (a) "God infallibly believes Jones will do X tomorrow", is logically compatible with the proposition, (b) "It is within Jones' power tomorrow to do something other than what God infallibly believes." It's clear that (a) and (b) are contradictory claims; if (a) is true, then Jones cannot have the power described in (b). To assume otherwise is to imagine that Jones has the power to instantiate a state of affairs whose description is incoherent, and no one has that power, not even God.

  6. God's foreknowledge is not determinism, since God is not within timespace. We are. We are yet to make free choices he has observed from outside. So we freely choose. If I play this video again I know what you're going to say, but you weren't predetermined to say it.

  7. Don't really get the debate about free will to be honest. It feels like the only reason why free will is such a loaded subject is because Religion says it excists – because before there was science, that was the status quo. Especially in the US free will is a big debate, wich is here in my country, we are not really busy with that subject. When scientist say it excists it's a free pass for religious people to say: SEE GOD EXCISTS. It really feels like the debate around it is only to disprove God, not really about what is really right. Therefore I feel that scientist would never claim that free will excists, altough I am not relgious, and I have the feeling I have enough free will to live my life the way I want. All the other 'not so free will stuff', I put in the category of learned behaviour and life conditions. No mystery there.

  8. If free will is an illusion, which is a logical materialist conclusion, what a bizarre coincidence that we should experience this illusion, and that we are conscious at all. But it spares us other complications.

    If free will is real, then there is a causal link between consciousness and the body or brain, though the mechanism for this seems supernatural. Those who believe in libertarian free will, with or without a belief in souls, have two processes for all action: the totally unconscious activities of substance that conform to natural laws and the actions of conscious agents.

    Another possibility is that all actions described by physical laws are the result of conscious agency associated with substance, similar to panantheism–which implies infinitesimally small or simple conscious structures (an unfamiliar thing), and countless grades of more complex, emergent conscious structures . If all substance is conscious/mental and all minds are substantial, it seems necessary to posit a universal telepathy–but not just the very simple type that most people think of. This does allow for a mechanistic view of reality and compatibilistic free will: we pursue our preferences freely, but our preferences are based on our "hard wiring" and limited understanding of our environing conditions.

  9. We have free will
    Freedom
    in the end
    God will smoke
    azazel right to Tartarus
    Because of free will

    The devil takes ur will not God and Jesus frees the soul from the devils chains anew thru Jesus Christ

  10. "We" are all prisoners born of "God's" conception, therefore "God" has yet to be born.
    Try and think of what happens in the split-second an egg becomes fertilized., now imagine on a god-scale from within higher intra-dimensional levels that "we", along with nature/physical reality, are the byproduct of that process unfolding.
    So there's no reason whatsoever to fear or worship., THAT which "we" all are already a part of.
    The Shiva Linga is the precursor of the Holy Trinity in describing what is taking place across intra-dimensional levels of existence of a singular being's metamorphosis into…, a God?
    Just as the physical universes experience multiple crunches and expansions like a heartbeat., this being "we" are all part of, will eventually reach a stage in its progress where it will withdraw into itself all of the knowledge or data acquired through experiences from those separate individual consciousnesses whose Souls were able to make it through and beyond the life stages of Mineral, Vegetable and Animal.
    That's all "we" are., packets of information whose ego-identity becomes sacrificed upon subsumption into the One.

    For those seeking..,
    Do any of you know what you're really asking for in attaining ultimate liberation?

    If you enjoy inhabiting a human or any other form capable of expressing your individual character and Will., you're not ready for mergence.

    With that said., Who are my parents?

  11. "Free Will brings us closer to truth"?

    What does that mean?

    Anyway, there was nothing here about Chomsky's suggestion. There is Free Will, but it's beyond our cognitive capacity to understand.

  12. The Life-Desire, is the Motor of the Eternal Life,
    (the Hunger-principle, and the Satisfaction-principle, is the Compass)
    in direct extension of the life-desire We have the Will (Life-side) and the Gravity (Stuff-side)
    with my Will I do balance Earths Gravity, with my own, when I lift the cup.

    The Developing-Spiral, consist of Developing-Circuits, the end of a circuit, is the beginning of a new, and higher.
    In the beginning of a Developing-Circuit, the Will is at it's minimum, and in the end it is at it's maximum.
    So, this is the basic-analysis of the Will, in a Eternal Perspective.

  13. You can be free, even if everything is determined, because 1. reflexion can only recognize determined and finite things, so ppl think freedom is illusion, but freedom is never "in abstracto", like the "subject of knowledge" is not an illusion, it is just invisible for reflexion, you can only be. And 2. because it depends on who you are, if you are the lawmaker or in accordance to, then it is your own freedom! Like the (supposed deterministic) Schopenhauer said, it is not the one OR the other, like where the one is the other cannot be (like 50/50), the higher wisdom is that both are compatible (like 100/100), it all depends on "who you are"!

  14. i like how Mohamed described free will when asked about it. he said: you can jump out of your free will, but your descending and landing are determined. in other words 50-50.

  15. if you act out of your mind of emotions or bodily needs, free will is an illusion, because the mind knows just past and the other 2 are compulsive. also if you act in the realm of time according to Einstein the future is set and according to QM its probabilities are set. if you go beyond mind body and emotions, then and only then you have free will worth speaking of. so Buddha, Mahavira… have a free will, you and i not so much.

  16. 1. I am free to take decisions of my acts.
    2. MY religious and social values, logical judgments, influence to some extent to shape up my decisions of act.
    3. Though I am free to decide anything to act, God knows prior what I am finally going to do or will do. So for God it's deterministic but for me it is free will.
    4. My conscious mind always generating series of desires. My religious and social values and logical judgements shaping up and prioritising sequence of desires and feeding back to mind. After that what my conscious mind decide to act is my free will.
    5. If I had no religious and social values and no logical judgements, then I could be totally free to desire and decide anything to act. That is absolute free will.

  17. It is very simple. When you drive a car, you are not the car, but control all the abilities the car has. The soul or spirit is the driver, the brain and it's cognitive functions are the abilities are the brain.

  18. Being a man of Science and a man of Faith has its own benefits. One of those is you see both sides of the same coin. In the future, we will all agree and acknowledge the existence of a higher being, call that being "God" as you may. It is said that God is all knowing and God gave humans the gift of Free Will. God being all knowing, knows the Future. But if God knows the future then what is the use of Free Will?. First let us clarify some things here. God is ALL knowing. God knows ALL the POSSIBLE future. And by "possible" I literally mean MANY possible outcomes of what Future might be. Because as an All knowing being, God knows that when God gave humanity the gift of free will, there will be no certain future. Unlike the moon that revolves around the earth, the earth that revolves the sun and so on, humanities control over their future was given to them when God gave them the gift of free will. So now there is no conflict between God who knows the future and humans who have free will. "It is NOT the humans who watch the future that was created by God. It is God who watch the future that was created by humans, using their free will."
    Mark Darwin Buentipo

  19. Paradoxes are dualities, in physics you have the twin paradox, the universe or reality cannot decide if twin one is moving or if twin 2 is moving. Duality: two sides of the same coin. Energy is inherently dual:-

    Gravitation is equivalent or dual to acceleration — Einstein's happiest thought, the principle of equivalence (duality).

    Potential energy is dual to kinetic energy.

    Electro is dual to magnetic or electro magnetic energy is dual.

    Positive charges are dual to negative charges — electric charge.

    North poles are dual to south poles — magnets.

    Paradoxes always involve at least two dual perspectives which contradict each other — duality.

    "Always two there are" — Yoda.

    Paradoxes or dualities are hardwired into the physics!

    Energy is dual to mass — Einstein

    Dark energy is dual to dark matter.

  20. Freewill, choice, randomness is dual to order (predictability). "Always two there are" — Yoda.
    Syntropy (prediction, redundancy) is dual to increasing entropy (randomness) — the 4th law of thermodynamics.
    Certainty is dual to uncertainty — the Heisenberg certainty/uncertainty principle.
    Thesis is dual to anti-thesis creates synthesis — the time independent Hegelian dialectic.

  21. Damn I'm starting to think that this is an atheist only channel because when I look at all the comments it's pretty much all atheism. 😂😂😂

    I'm a theist that believes in the Abrahamic God but I don't believe in the existence of religion and we most definitely have free will.

    I think you cause yourself a lot of self confusion in a lot of your videos Robert Kuhn.

    You said that what God "believes" now must be true for the future, which means that mankind must conform to acting out that particular future so we have no free will.

    There's many problems with this, firstly that God does not "believe", God knows, there's a major difference there. The word "belief" gives room for uncertainty, room for "hope of" and room for "most probably". God knows all.

    The other problem is that you're indirectly anthropomorphisizing God by putting him into a perspective of time, "now" and "future". God does not suffer from any consequences of time like mankind does as He is outside of time.

    There is no problem or conflict here with God giving us free will and His ability to know what we'll do. Every day we're making choices that our mind, body and soul freely get to make, we could have infinite options to choose from (sense of freedom) and God would still know what we're going to do. Just because God knows everything doesn't take away from your freedom at all.

    You're looking at it like "He knows the future so I'm not truly free because I have to conform to his future prediction" and this is flawed thinking. You're not "conforming" at all, you just think you are. He gives us infinite options to choose from and to choose from whatever our imagination can conceive.

    It is not that there's weakness in your free will, it is that there's soo much power in his all knowing.

  22. why would be immoral without free will? I hear some studies show some slight changes in terms of cheating on tests and maybe there would be a settling in period but given we can only do whatever is predetermined what will be will be?

  23. I don't think it's true that people feel as if they have completely free will. I certainly don't feel this way. Because I'm always aware of all kinds of boundaries and limitations that greatly restrict my choices and my actions.

    For example, I don't feel free when I start feeling hungry or thirsty. I feel compelled to satisfy my need. And although I have some freedom to delay my satisfaction, I'm limited in how long I can delay it, before my need becomes so painful and intolerable that have to satisfy it. The same is true for choosing the kind of food and drinks to satisfy my need. I have some choice in this, but my choices are limited by the money and the time I have and what's available for me.

    There is no mystery in free will, when you realize that such freedom exists within boundaries and restrictions. You can move the boundaries and restrictions one way or another through social and technological means. But you can never remove these boundaries and restrictions completely. So, freedom and lack of freedom always co-exist in one way or another.

  24. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,
    Love is the law,
    Love under will.
    93/93

    I'm surprised that A. Crowley was not brought up,
    and the philosophy of "Thelema"
    which addresses a lot of issues brought up here.
    if your interested in what I'm talking about, just research Thelema,
    the law of free will, I've posted some info links if you wish to research more on this philosophy.

    start here,
    http://aristocratsofthesoul.com/what-is-true-will-in-aleister-crowleys-thelema/

    "Here are some great links to Thelema and the philosophy of free will and true will"
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema
    https://www.learnreligions.com/thelema-95700
    https://www.thelema101.com/intro
    https://biblehub.com/greek/2307.htm
    https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/thelema.html

  25. How is it that every living animal acts with self-will and self-regard,.. but not a single piece of man-made technology. I expect that without minimal self-will and self-regard, there can be no free will, much less consciousness.

    Can one believe in Daoist free will then? I believe that human free will belongs upon a continuum between chance and determinism and that as we exercise moral agency, just as we exercise our muscles,.. we demonstrate antifragility and become more of who we are at our very best. Instead of thinking of free will as digital,.. it may be more appropriate to think of free will as being transcendental,.. ie., something that exists but requires the use of infinity, literally, in order to come into existence at all.

  26. Its a fact that human beings have free will but also god knows the future, he always knows what we're gonna decide on. Why? Time is relevant and limited on material things and our bodies are material. So we are limited in this world in our bodies with our limited brains. One day, our bodies will die, but god is limitless, for him there is no past, no present and no future. Therefore he is allknowing.

  27. Given one's heritage and the biases and prejudices therein, along with the biases and prejudices one psychologically accumulates from one's sentient life experiences, Free Will is impacted negatively to the point of it being impossible. In short, the question as posited was not well thought.

    When, if ever, have you had Free Will? "The unexamined Life is not worth living," Socrates.
    Consider your Life Adventure to be a Random Walk.

    ibiubu

  28. I think I can logically disprove whatever Richard says also with logic now. Took me a while to realise logic is useless unless your a programmer. I need to go and prove this tho. I’d like you to put this logical argument to him

  29. No mystery — free will doesn't exist. Anyone claiming that it does just wants credit for making choices that were the result of a myriad of prior causes which were completely out of their control, and to which they were most likely completely oblivious.

  30. 13:45 She's conflating consciousness and free will. That''s not entirely necessary. I would want my mind-body system to be able to work on automatic pilot for many situations, if not, I would have to analyze every sense impression my physical body would be hit with. I would shut down (paralysis by over-analysis), and thus no free will.

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