If free-will is an illusion, then so is self?

Question:Our personal identity (or self) is not an illusion. It is merely the kind of personality each of us develops and the kinds of people we think we are becoming as we go through life.

Free will, however, is an illusion, as shown by the development of mental illness. If a person develops mental illness, his personality changes greatly. If he can be restored to some sort of normal functioning through psychiatric medication, then it is the medication that normalizes the neurochemical balances in his brain not his desire to get better.

No amount the application of volition can improve the psychological disturbances of mentally ill people if they are taking medication for their condition. It is only the medication itself that makes them function more rationally.

Harleigh Kyson Jr.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Our personal identity (or self) is not an illusion. It is merely the kind of personality each of us develops and the kinds of people we think we are becoming as we go through life.

Free will, however, is an illusion, as shown by the development of mental illness. If a person develops mental illness, his personality changes greatly. If he can be restored to some sort of normal functioning through psychiatric medication, then it is the medication that normalizes the neurochemical balances in his brain not his desire to get better.

No amount the application of volition can improve the psychological disturbances of mentally ill people if they are taking medication for their condition. It is only the medication itself that makes them function more rationally.

Harleigh Kyson Jr.

Free will is not an illusion,it is just nearly impossible to deviate from what you would choose.

Example: You have a button that would kill/destroy all happieness in the world, including your own and there is no way you could benifit from pushing that button other than to prove me wrong. You would choose not to push the button and it would be nearly impossible for you to do so.

Free will is no more an illusion than freedom of speach, right to bear arms, or freedom of religion.

Talking about freewill, it's no illusion. Freewill
is proved and verified. God has granted us with freewill, and we have become responsible for everything we do.

Self is what in us identifies us as being what we are. That's what distinguishes us from the irrational.

The issue of free-will and self are unrelated concepts. So whether free-will is an illusion or not has no bearing on the nature of the self.

The self is a concept that is studied in the philosophy of mind and also cognitive sciences, an interdisciplinary field of philosophy.

By the way, the concept of free-will AND determinism, its opposite, are both flawed concepts. They both are derived from religious concepts which are metaphysical in nature and therefore cannot be treated in a logical manner that would allow proof or falsification (verification).

You might as well be trying to determine whether unicorns are pure white or some color.

Self, on the other hand, is subject to scientific study and is an active area of philosophy and science. See the works of Shaun Gallagher, for example.

I believe so. As long as you are living under some type of rule your free will is limited.

It is based on our perception of concepts on how we choose to perceive them.

Yes. But they both exists as non-existence.

Free will is not an illusion. Unfortunately the answer might to be good or may appear to be forced in certain situations. Everyone has free-will, the outcome could just mean terrible consequences which is why, some my not take advantage of it.