Do humans have free will, or are they predetermined?

General Philosophy
1

Sometimes, I feel like my actions are predetermined by my feelings rather than being the result of genuine free choice. I may believe that I am freely deciding what to do, but when I look closer, it sometimes feels as if my emotions, desires, fears, personality, and past experiences have already pushed me in a certain direction before I even consciously make a decision

We are shaped by our genetics, the environment we grow up in, our families, society, opportunities, and countless outside influences that we never chose. Sometimes it feels like we are making choices, but those choices are predetermined

Do we truly choose our own future, or are our choices ultimately determined by forces that were shaping us long before we became aware of them?

2

Its entirely irrelevant whether your next decision is caused by him, her, them, hunger, curiousity, genes, culture, desire or sheer delight in doing something unpredictable. The answer to your question is that its caused by something in a chain of causation.

3

There have been several of these topics over the past few months. I don’t think we need another one quite yet. Feel free to use the search to find those discussions and contribute your thoughts there, because I’m closing this one.

1 Like