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We make our own decisions from a day to day basis. Human actions are not determined by forces which we have no control over. We are not 'fated' to do something one way other than the other because the universe has decided so. Playing a sport for instance, during the game you are not fated to play horrible or amazing, every move you make is pre-determined by no one but your self. The choice you made was decided by what you saw happened and what you thought was the best action to make in order to do your job. What you did was a choice you made, if it worked or not was up to you. The person who made the run/move did so because they know what they're supposed to do in order for them, and their team, to succeed. That person practiced in order to do great in the game, to do the right actions. The universe will not decide for them to make all the mistakes they can. You are responsible for the decisions you make, you are at fault for the mistakes you make.

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Ok so basically, I agree with some of the people who have already said this, but there is no way to 100% prove one or the other, so in the end why does it matter? Free will or not, we're still going to live our lives however we live them. So why stress over an uncertain that you can't change? That's my philosophy at least.
I do like to think that free will exists because it's a more hopeful outlook- "my actions are my own and I don't have to listen to 'destiny'." I think destiny is a messed up concept anyways, because it's incredibly unfair that one person could be destined to have a great life and another person could die young, just because it was already determined for them.
On that note, for hard determinism believers, what do you think of deaths that are pure accidents? For example, a person who dies in a car accident that wasn't their fault. Hard determinism is more saying how because of your ethics, ideals, and environment shapes every decision you make so that it's impossible for any other decision/outcome to have been made. But their life has been taken by another. Was their fate sealed once they made the decision to get in the car that day? Also, out of curiosity, would that mean that you guys believe in "soulmates"? Because if your fate has already been determined, that would also mean that your love life has been as well.

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When seeing the world with a cause and effect point of view, the result of every situation is evident. Similar to the how a boulder falls down a hill in a specific manner, how one thinks, how one feels, and how one acts occurs in a specific way. There is always some reason behind what occurs. Looking at thoughts acting like balls colliding, their path is determined based on information retaining to the scenario, however we may not know them. We may simply not know the steps that lead up to these events, but that does not mean they are not there. Everything has a cause, including thoughts, where the reason behind them can be explained through chemistry, physics, and psychology.

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I think that the reason many people can’t accept hard determinism as a fact of life is because it seems too specific, or restricting. How can it be possible that, even with the events that have led up to this moment, there’s only one posible outcome to each individual action? It just doesn’t seem realistic. However, let’s say for instance that someone with this philosophy in mind tried to “rebel” against the inevitable result, defying fate by doing something unexpected. Well, this defiende can still be seen as predetermined. This is one reason why this discussion seems so pointless, anything can be dictated as “predetermined” simply because there is not way to prove it isn’t. However, I still believe in hard determinism because at the end of the day, whatever is going to happen will happen; the difference is just I view it as already being set in stone. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t have free will, although that seems contradictory (and maybe even be impossible under the laws of hard determinism), just that are end choice is predetermined. (I’m open to other ideas too this is just my initial thought.)

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There is a mix of free will and determinism because some decisions are out of our control, but some decisions we make, or at least we feel like we make them. There is no real way to prove either theory, so it doesn’t really matter which one is true. We should try to control our own lives even if it doesn’t matter. It might matter, it might not. We definitely have the illusion of free will at least. -Charlie

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yeah it’s easier to argue for. But still it doesn’t make sense. Not everything in life is just a big domino effect. That means that life it’s self was caused by a domino effect.

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Yuwei Yang- Heading towards, Hard Determinism.

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Yuwei Yang- Heading towards, Hard Determinism.

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I am leanient towards the idea of hard determinism because of how everything in life is rather connected to something in one way. I don‘t think we are truly free. Sure, we may be free from societal aspects of life such as dictatorships, other people‘s oppression, but in terms of universal aspects, we are not truly free, for one we are tied to our environment, and our environment will have a very strong influence/be a prominent factor, in any degree, in determining what we may do in the future. Things in the past can have an impact on the present and in the future as well. Everything is tied together, just like how each person‘s action, or each thing‘s action has a ripple effect and will affect someone or something, and determining and affecting their lives.

Thank you for your time.

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Obviously I am not 100 percent sure that everything is determined already and it’s just disguised as free will. But people are going along with determinism because they’re confusing it with cause and effect. Cause and effect is clearly true, no one can dispute that, but that doesn’t mean that was the only thing that could have happened, and free choice still exists with cause and effect.

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Hard-Determinism is not rendered nonexistent due to the possibility of options. All possible options are the result of other influences allowing for the existence of those options. If you were to argue that the choices you made weren’t the result of certain events, thoughts, and feelings that came before, then I’d argue that you would be wrong. Feelings are the result of the events that have shaped us into who we are now, and those feelings lead into multiple possible options—all of which are still the result of something that came before. We’d like to believe that we make all of our decisions freely and without influence, but the fact that Hard-Determinism forms the basis of knowledge and is reflected in your preferences and decisions proves otherwise.

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As a Christian I believe that we do have free will as the Bible has stated. There is logic behind both determinism and libertarian, but What causes someone to make an irrational decision? If one action causes another what action or thought causes an irrational decision. If there was a reason for the decision would you have the same result in a completely identical situation?

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I’m still under something else and I don’t know if anyone can change my mind. This whole thing is too intricate for me. I think we are just here and we just do what we do because of the morals we personally uphold. But a question I guess I have to hard determinism is why do you guys think that none of the choices we make in life, we actually make. Why do y’all think everything is just the domino effect.

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I think that it’s hard to give a really good opinion on one side because of the other questions that could lead up to it. For example, if you purposely screamed for some reason as your “free will”, then people will automatically stare at you. Because people have an automatic reaction to things. So I guess I am leaning more towards hard determinism.

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There is no way to decipher whether one side is right or not. On one hand, free will states that all decisions are determined by the person involved, and determinism states that every single decision was predetermined by a previous choice, and nothing is free.

To those on free will: How do you know whether your choice was made fully on your own? You could say stuff like, "Well, I could choose to rob the bank right now, but I choose not to." Is that really your own free will, or is it a decision you made based on previous morals and ethics?

To those on determinism: How does the fact that I ate something for breakfast predetermine when I sleep? Why would your future choices be predetermined by any given previous choice? Does one choose to do these things based on something that happened before?

In this aspect, it is difficult to argue with solid evidence for one side or the other. This is one of those debates that simply depends on how you view the world around you. It is hard to choose either free will or determinism if you weigh both options.

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I think that everything is pre determined because if someone had the same genetics as me, and every event that happened was exactly the same, we would make the same decisions. The decisions we make, whether unconscious or conscious, are only a result of past experiences, and genetics/instinct.

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Everything you do is a free choice you make, not because of something that happened previously. Those who say breakfast is determined, the truth is you decide to even have breakfast or not let alone knowing what to eat for breakfast.

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i forgot to put my name on it but this is jaydens

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I believe that all events are products or results of events that have happened in the past. There is no choice in the matter; what was going to happen was always going to happen because of the series of events that already happened. At the end of the day, nobody truly knows. Is their a higher power who is controlling everything? I don’t know. But the concept of free will just isn’t realistic to me; everything that has happened in my life has not always been my choice, therefore not everything is the product of my free will.

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The reason I think we have free choice is because the very first event must've been random because what could've influenced it. Also just because we react in a specific way doesn't mean we don't have control over the minor details about our action. Yes I may do something like homework because of a domino effect and my teacher assigned it, but I have the choice of when I do it, how thoroughly I do it, how fast I do it, and if I even do it at all. The fact that we change the minor parts of our actions show that we do have a choice, and although it is true that we react to previous happenings we have the choice of how we react or if we react

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How are you sure it is not determined that free will is an idea or that because free will determinism is an idea?
How can you account for not knowing what happens in another person's conciseness?
How would the first thought had been formed under determinism?
How does your side account for creativity?

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Since determinism is the idea that events are bound a causality, it makes sense to simplify it into cause-and-effect. Whether you like it or not, something caused everything. When you woke up in the morning, your alarm caused you to wake up. When you wanted to eat food, your body told you that your were hungry. All of these things can't be denied that there was a cause and effect. And that can be applied to everything. I think some people believe determinism means a higher power is making your life the way it is, when there isn't. You're in control of your life, and your "free will" comes from the thoughts in your head. Hey, guess what. It so happens that all of your thoughts are influenced by the world you grow up in. Cause and effect.

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I think it's impossible to prove either side, and it's a waste of time to worry about it because it won't change anything, and there is nothing you can do about it if it really is one or the other.

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I feel like people think that determinism is the same thing as cause and effect, but that isn’t true. With cause and effect, one thing leads to another, but that doesn’t mean that was the only possible thing that could have happened. Choice were made that led to an event occurring, and those choices were made by free will. When I pick out what to wear, it isn’t because every single thing that has happened in my life has lead me to that point. I have different clothes, I make different decisions on what I want to wear, and as a result I get an outfit. It wasn’t predetermined for me, I made those choices myself.

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I genuinely just think that hard determinism is easier to argue, because you can say that any "decision" was actually meant to be. However, I don't think there is any way to actually tell if it was meant to be or not; there is no Greek god telling us a prophecy, as it happened for Oedipus, so who are we to say that fate isn't constantly changing with every decision we make?

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As a nihilist I think that both sides are just excuses to validate our existence
Free will is just a desperate attempt to have some control in your life.         Determinism is just an excuse for bad actions or past accident.
Both just try to desperately explain things that happen

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1. Post your questions/challenges to either philosophy.
2. Place your comment closer to the philosophy that you think you agree with more, or dead in the center if you are truly undecided.

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1. Post your defense of this philosophy and PLACE YOUR COMMENT ON THIS SIDE OF THE PAGE.
2. Then, choose a comment in the middle and respond to it in defense of libertarian free will

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1. Post your defense of this philosophy and PLACE YOUR COMMENT ON THIS SIDE OF THE PAGE.
2. Then, choose a comment in the middle and respond to it in defense of determinism.