Do people believe in the idea of free will because it would be too hard to live

Question:It is undeniable that everyone has a different nature(genetics), and the more we find out about our personality, the more we see it is inherited. Everything from happiness, anger, all these traits can be passed down.

We can also not deny that everyone has vastly different nurtures. If any one of us were born into the MIddle East and indoctrinated into radical islam there is a good chance we would be terrorists, if born with racist parents, racist. Our natural genetics our strengthed or weakened by the thousands upon thousands of experiences which shape us through childhood or adolescense.

Sure we can think of many different possible outcomes to any situation, but we will always choose the one our own psychology sees the most fit, the choice is merely an illusion. As Albert Einstein said when he was asked of his views of freewill, 'A man can very well do what he wants, but he can not will what he wants.'

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It is undeniable that everyone has a different nature(genetics), and the more we find out about our personality, the more we see it is inherited. Everything from happiness, anger, all these traits can be passed down.

We can also not deny that everyone has vastly different nurtures. If any one of us were born into the MIddle East and indoctrinated into radical islam there is a good chance we would be terrorists, if born with racist parents, racist. Our natural genetics our strengthed or weakened by the thousands upon thousands of experiences which shape us through childhood or adolescense.

Sure we can think of many different possible outcomes to any situation, but we will always choose the one our own psychology sees the most fit, the choice is merely an illusion. As Albert Einstein said when he was asked of his views of freewill, 'A man can very well do what he wants, but he can not will what he wants.'

doctor y, yep, whether people believed in free will or not would of course also be "determined". No exceptions. It is curious that in terms of the world outside us everyone implicitly presumes the universal is causal. You kick a pebble down a street, and all the causal forces acting upon that pebble decide where it lands. Or the forces in play that decide which lottery ball pops out. Or the causation behind why you draw a specific card out of a deck, or why a die cast lands on 3. Scientific method is itself based on the presumption causal law. And yet, people are the exception in their own minds. Alzheimer's... is that not an example of causal forces severely affecting the outcome of decision making? How is the interplay between nature/nurture any different?

There are plenty of determinists. Einstein was a determinist, "God does not play dice". I myself am a determinist. And I'd agree with the question, not that your decision to believe in free will or not isn't causal, but that the forces that implore people to hold onto a belief in free will are "determined" by what to them feels better to believe. For me... I don't find there is a conflict in being a determinist. Sure I do think that causality dictates myself as well as everything else, but I don't know all the factors involved, I still have the subjective experience of decision making. And if nothing else, if fated, are not your decisions still the residue of your design?

If what you say is true, then people believe in free will because they MUST. Their choice in the matter is predetermined by their genetics and the environmental influences they experienced. They can no more not believe in free will than a ball can spontaneously roll uphill. If all that you say is true.

",,,that which you call "free will" is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom, the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and your character."

I would say yes, it would be too hard to live believing we do not have the freedom to think or to not think.

By paragraph

genetics...we are not our bodies

chance....in life we always can make the right choice, it's not a crap shoot

our psychology..again, you are already saying our past determines our choices.We are always free to choose love over fear. Denying that we are gives power to what we are not, predetermined victims.

If you assume those in psychology have the truth, you haven't looked at the lens they are peering through.
Freud made up the parts of the self by his own ego, which says we are separate from each other and have parts of ourselves that are separate as well. This is a formula for conflict and those who buy into it are conflicted. If we are not our bodies, then we could be One great thought. Just an idea to ponder.

I must disagree. If the premise that free will is subservient to nature/nurture was true, then there would be no social change. The ideologies would be continuous and unrestrained.

But that isn't true. Children with genetic similarities frequently do not have the same ideologies as their parents. And persons raised (nurtured) in defined social structures frequently develop contrary opinions to their social influences. It's not uncommon to find abolitionists in slave nations, vegetarians in Texas, and criminals in church.

And for those who do make choices similar to their genetic or social influences, that similarity is not a sign that free will is lacking. It is merely a sign that those "local" conditions met their needs first.

Only when the local condition (nature/nurture) is found unacceptable does one's free will drive them to other alternatives.

For example, if you like balloons, you'll be happy with any ol' balloon you can obtain. But if the only balloons you can buy in the area are RED balloons, that's what you'll buy. Your free will has been exercised, and you own a balloon. One could argue that since you could not buy a blue balloon, you are not able to excercise choice. But you have. You chose to own a balloon, and your act of buying the local offering (nature/ nurture) satisfied that choice soonest. No need to look elsewhere for a balloon. However, if you want a blue balloon, you will leave your area (nature/nurture) and find a blue one elsewhere. And since you have free will, indeed you will attempt to do just that

Happens all the time.

Tourist - I'm not uneducated on determinism, I just disagree with the precepts of it. I attempted to illustrate it in a simple manner that you could understand, but it appears that I failed to provide a useful analogy. Had I known that you actually sought not an answer but only validation of your static mindset, I wouldn't have wasted your time by providing you with a viewpoint that was potentially contrary to your own. Sorry for the confusion.

My friend, without the notion of free will we cannot act. So, whatever influences there are, the sense of willing is primary even if we're simply programmed machines doing it. Without WILL not even the genetic and environmental arguments are understandable. We would simply be vegetables.

Edit: Just because I'm simple and direct and do not write on and on like certain windbags doesn't mean I didn't understand the question. My point is that physiologically it is necessary to have a sense of WILLING. Certainly you can see that you're merely a puppet of other factors, but that makes the will sick. The short answer to your question is yes, but there is more to it. It is not merely a preference, but a necessity to believe in free will.

I'm sorry i couldn't read all the details, i have a short attention span and you talk too perfect, not that that's bad, but grammar makes me die.

anyway, why would it be too hard to "live" without believing in it? i guess i don't really get what you mean by that.

also, i'm sure there're cultures where free will isn't even an option, i don't know what they are, but i'm sure they're out there. so those people live just fine, i assume. they don't just die of "too-hard" haha
so maybe you mean is it too hard for americans or the western culture to live without free will?
well, obviously not all of them...

but for some people, it could be that. It could be that they simply just don't want to think about the idea that all of their actions are controlled or determined by what came before and so they choose to believe in free will because it makes them feel better.
but i'm also sure there are people who know all that determinism stuff and still believe in free will because they really, truly believe it's true because of whatever else they believe in or whatever experiences they've had that backed up their belief.

i hope i'm not sounding stupid and restating what you just said.