No

Yes. we can do whatever we want,...as long as its possible. You just have to face the consequences for your actions.

Nobody knows for sure. There are no absolute truths, and no human knowledge 100 percent certain, but I lean more towards no we don't, I think it's an illusion, but hey what can ya do, ya know....

Free will is relative . Yes we have it but only within the confines of the morality of our families and the Society in which we live. People that drop out have more free will than we that conform but then I suppose we could drop out if we wished. We have freedom to choose which path we take so on the whole the answer is yes

First, do you know the difference between good and evil? Which do you prefer to do? Do you break the commandment, thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal? Why do you know not to do them? Yet some people do, your free will to choose.

as long as it's within the lines of the law?

Did you choose to ask that question? If so, then you have free will. If not, then the question is meaningless. That is, if you don't have free will, you won't have any say in the matter of whether or not you contemplate free will, or discuss it with others... you won't even have any say in what you believe about the matter. In short, if you don't have free will, there's no point in asking the question because you would not be able to determine whether the answer was true or simply determined by the machinery of life. Thus the answer is either YES, or the question is pointless. Either way, there's no reason to proceed further with the discussion.

Yes we do. But, we often forget there are consequences for some of our choices.

I do. The only thing that I have to do is die someday. Everything else is my choice

I do. You, probably not.

We have free will on a constant basis, every single minute of our lives. I can stop typing right now, go outside, and maybe get killed by a crazy driver, or maybe find an eccentric multimillionaire who will just look at me and decide to give me half of his fortune because he just wants to do it....I remind him of a good friend of his who died in the Korean War. We are taking chances single moment of almost every single day.

i alway seem to get into trouble when i do what i want. so i dont think that i have free anything.

Our will is influenced by environment, society, family, and …. It is also determined by these elements. Do we have a free will? Yes, but the amount of free will is different from person to person; it depends to person and his environment. In Christian theology, the debate is still going on. And Bible is not clear about it.

Yes we do..always. You just need to exercise discretion or it can get you in trouble...just because you are free to do something, does not mean you should do it. ;-)

Free will is not independently self-existent. So its not 'real' in that sense. It's the feeling of choice. It's as real as a self-referential concept can be! Check 'choice', check 'volition'. Forget Deterministic (anti-free will) quibbling. Here's the no BS version: Free will is a social claim. 'Everybody knows' that choice is possible. We learn to control our acts as part of a long and complicated process that begins at birth. It shapes folkways and our sense of justice. When we execute criminals it is because we decide they 'chose' to kill. Society believes in free will. So learn the concept, and use it every day! By the way, the determinists are flat wrong on the facts. Fractal Math and a little slashing from Occam killed the argument 30 years ago. Since we now know our universe is indeterminate, we can continue to enjoy the 'useful illusion' of choice. Welcome to the world of responsibility!

We do, but nly within certain parameters, which are defined for us while we are growing up and learning as a child. It is really difficult to step outside the boundaries of belief that we learn as children. Many people manage to do it, but not all.

The law of cause and effect is known in philosophical texts also. There is a very specific law in science. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". If you write it in English, it becomes Newton's Law. If you write it in Sanskrit, it becomes Law of Karma. http://www.search.com/search?q=karma Causa est omnibus in Latin means 'there is a reason for everything. Similar meaning is given by the phrases "as you sow so shall you reap", "what goes around comes around", and "sow the wind; reap the whirlwind". http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/30/messages/1444.html Leucippus, the founder of the atomic theory, declared in his only surviving statement, "Nothing occurs at random, but everything happens for a reason and by necessity". It is known as Leucippus’ principle of causality. http://www.answers.com/topic/democritus "Everything happens for a reason. Every action has a reaction. Always remember that whats meant to be will always find a way to come about." According to Vedic literature, karma is the law of cause and effect. For every action there is a cause as well as a reaction. Karma is produced by performing fruitive activities for bodily or mental development. One may perform pious activities that will produce good reactions or good karma for future enjoyment. Or one may perform selfish or what some call sinful activities that produce bad karma and future suffering. This follows a person wherever he or she goes in this life or future lives. Such karma, as well as the type of consciousness a person develops, establishes reactions that one must experience. http://www.stephen-knapp.com/Karma_what_is_%20it.htm Buddhism refers to it as Karma or "Karma Vipaka". The law of karma basically states that every action has a reaction and whatever you do to others will later return to you. http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2571 Karma is not fatalism. The very wording "for every action" indicates that we have free will.

Your natural programming mandates that you will believe in free will.

Hi ! yes we all have free will. its up to us to exercise it the way we want. Either follow a path that has been decided for us or choose your own destination. no one can force you to make you do something you dont want to do.That is my idea of free will.

We have as much free will as we can handle. It may be that a mind much, much greater than ours can see that we do not, in fact, have free will. But that is irrelevant from our point of view: we are as free as we can imagine, and what we cannot imagine does not matter.

I know I do.

If you believe you do, then you do. Just remember that politicians and people in power are truthful, love you and they are trying to help you.

No. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

A person only has freewill if they know how to change their behaviors. If they don't know how, they're screwed. The Bible neglected to mention that part.

Yeah...we are born...grow up..things happen to us as we grow up.....and those things either influence us in a good way or a bad way. We have a choice. We have free choice to do whatever we want. Bad things happened and we either get bitter or better. Good things happen to us we can cherish that incident and never forget it or we can make to choice to decide that nothing good ever happens to us. To me free will means ....we have a choice. It's our desicion (can never spell that word, HELP). The BIBLE clearly tells us we cand have either blessings or curses in our lives. THE WORD tells us in Duetronemy 27:1-26...read the whole chapter...it's not that long. Then read the next chapter to read the many blessings you will recieve if you heed to the words of the GOD. Some people will say that is the OLD TESTAMENT and does not apply to us....are we to ignore it because it is the OLD WORDS OF GOD????? I don't think so....but that is my personal opinion. So we have to the free-will to decide to be blessed or be cursed...hope this helped.

Did YOU ask that, or was it predestined?

Free will is, by definition, "the ability or discretion to choose". I most certainly have that, I don't know about anybody else.

Just a bigger cage with no one to feed me :(

I strongly believe in free will. If I am not the one making my own choices, how would I know? So does it really matter?

We have free will. That does not mean that other people are going to leave us alone to use it.

Those that do not believe in religion have free will everyone else is faced with the dilemma of having free will and getting a big cosmic smackdown from the big G or falling in line and being a good little sheep for the flock

Aye.. indeed. Just not always free to exercise it ;(

I think it is called 'choice'....we seem to always have a choice, even if it is NOT to make it. With choice, always, comes consequence. Some people don't know they have choice....that is called 'learned helplessness'.

....

Yeah, and unfortunately it's a bugger to control. But it's thrown me off the road and left me bruised way too many times not to have learned that I'd better.

Not really. What exactly Is free will? It can't be emotions, desires, thought, or anything else like that because those are determined by law.

It appears that we have free will but it also appears that we dont in the sense that part or all of our brains control "us", and we cant do anything that it doesnt want. the Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite comes to mind for the free will side. but who knows if we do or dont have it. my brain would like to say word to your mother.

Yes.

yes and no.they say free wil is a gift.how can you call that which was force apon me a gift?i have free will but not my own choices .i have never chson to hva free will,whether i like it or not.i dont ot want free will.for free will meams moral responsibility,and moral rsponsiility is more then i can bare.

By suggesting to think "real hard" I have yeilded my thought pattern, and failed to have the will to answer your question.

We have legitimate free will, but not liberty.

Nothing deep about it. We are limited to our human minds, nothing more or less. Where's the freedom in that?

There is a monkey riding on a tiger's back. Is the monkey riding the tiger or is the tiger riding the monkey? The monkey signifies the conscious mind/free will. The tiger, the subconscious/ pre-determination. Most of the time the tiger decides where they are going. Sometimes the monkey feels helpless (like people who do not believe that free will exists). Sometimes, after the tiger has made the decision, the monkey convinces himself that he is the one that had made the decision. Sometimes, if the monkey is very strong and/or persuasive, he decides where they are going. So yes, we have a free will.

No it would be a terrible world if we did.

I've spent years debating that question and I've come to the conclusion that if we don't, we wouldn't know.

I can't think hard...no free will. ;) haha

Only to a point.

At first glance it would seem to exist, if we consider our genetic make up to be our "tools." In a world with no freewill there is no truth or justice. Because surely justice has to be defined in terms of use of free will, and not a simply a sistem to avoid others doing harm to us. It is such a hard question that people like me (not exactly philosophers) come to the conclusion that it simply makes sense to live life as if it does, and not to worry about it... But yer, how is one supposed to know if intentions to make good thoughts and actions exist, and are in our control?

Well free will means i get to choose right. I don't get to choose when i'm tired. I don't get to choose when i die. I don't make friends by just choosing them. Destiny decides our lives no matter what anyone says.

I'm trying...I'm really, really trying...but that ice cream in the freezer is pulling me awaaaaaaaaaaay

i'll answer this question with a question. (how like life. questions only seem to open doors to more question) Left to its own devices, would an atom move? Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and cause, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic.

If you think too hard about questions like this you get confused.

I refuse to think real hard, therfore i am a being of free will.