A Dialogue on Free Will

Alexander S. Peak

3 July 2006

Alexander Peak:  Do you believe in free will?

Emily:  how do you mean?

Peak:  However it is usually meant when one asks such a question. Feel free to understand the concept of free will as you please, and to accept it or reject it on that standard.

Emily:  You seriously can't have these types of conversations with me at 2 am :-P

Emily:  Of course i believe in free will, the way it was meant to be used.

Emily:  In America if we were to use free will openly, people would (and do) seriously abuse it.

Emily:  In Germany, for example, children as young as 5 roam the streets without supervision, because crime rate is so low no one fears for their child's safety in such circumstances

Peak:  Um...

Peak:  What it generally refers to is whether one is free to think independently, or if one’s thoughts are controlled.

Emily:  i know

Emily:  ack

Emily:  id

Peak:  There are generally two arguments against free will.  One, being religious determinism, or the belief that God has set for us all the events of our lives, which would necessitate that God has chosen in advance what thoughts we will ever entertain; and the other being biological determinism, or the belief that one’s mind is contr...

Emily:  idk. I thought i was going somewhere with that but i lost it.

Peak:  ack? id?

Emily:  I meant to write IDK (i dont know)

Peak:  I always forget what IDK stands for. :-(

Emily:  lol

Emily:  Its cool

Peak:  I personally acknowledge that there is a certain biological determinism leading me to my conclusions, but I can’t really say that this, in my opinion, precludes free will.  Of course, I see freedom and right to self-ownership as inherently chained together; I admit my biases.  Still, I see it that as long as my will is still mine, which I believe it is—that is to say, I don’t believe it is determined for me by any higher power—, my will, by its nature as being “mine,” is thusly free.

Emily:  makes sense