12-01-2011, 05:06 AM
Freewill and causation and predestination and all of these things have been a matter of some minor debate for, oh at least 10 thousand years.... A short time 
There is no easy answer, thus philosophical students still debate this in class, Clergy stand on pulpits and 'debate' it to the the laity.
On one hand we have to accept that no man is an island - this means that no one is outside of everything else. We react as much as we act. If I hit your shin with my cane (accidentally I swear ) your reaction will be to grab the tender spot, say ow. This is predicable behavior given an outside stimulus.
We humans are also blinded to possibilities, we can not see all possible outcomes of any given situation, thus we act on a thing is more of reaction, reaction based on what we do know and what previous experience has programmed us to do.
This sort of reactive behavior is linked to cause and effect.
To a point we are animals capable of reasoning. Thus when I smacked your shin with my cane you could react by not reacting, ignoring the pain, or you could react by taking my cane from me and beating my shin in kind. Here is where the 'free will' thing comes into play. You can break your own programing, choose to react or not react or react in a way that is unexpected such as beating an old crippled elf with his own cane
Free will is not an absolute, nor is predestination. We have wiggle room, working within a cause and effect frame work with the ability to use our own will to change the outcome based on our behaviors.
We have the ability to become more than our basic programing.
As applied to humanity, we are the first species (perhaps the only ones ever on earth) that have the ability to change our course down the path of history by exercising our ability to choose.
There is no easy answer, thus philosophical students still debate this in class, Clergy stand on pulpits and 'debate' it to the the laity.
On one hand we have to accept that no man is an island - this means that no one is outside of everything else. We react as much as we act. If I hit your shin with my cane (accidentally I swear ) your reaction will be to grab the tender spot, say ow. This is predicable behavior given an outside stimulus.
We humans are also blinded to possibilities, we can not see all possible outcomes of any given situation, thus we act on a thing is more of reaction, reaction based on what we do know and what previous experience has programmed us to do.
This sort of reactive behavior is linked to cause and effect.
To a point we are animals capable of reasoning. Thus when I smacked your shin with my cane you could react by not reacting, ignoring the pain, or you could react by taking my cane from me and beating my shin in kind. Here is where the 'free will' thing comes into play. You can break your own programing, choose to react or not react or react in a way that is unexpected such as beating an old crippled elf with his own cane
Free will is not an absolute, nor is predestination. We have wiggle room, working within a cause and effect frame work with the ability to use our own will to change the outcome based on our behaviors.
We have the ability to become more than our basic programing.
As applied to humanity, we are the first species (perhaps the only ones ever on earth) that have the ability to change our course down the path of history by exercising our ability to choose.
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