[quote]pat36 wrote:
Your illusion is an illusion. You cannot say your notion of choice is any more of an illusion than the notion of predetermined action is an illusion.[/quote]
I’m sorry, but that mumbo jumbo doesn’t mean anything. All illusions are illusions, that why they’re called illusions. The second sentence makes no sense at all.
The question is about whether we have free will.
If you posit an omniscient God, then anything you will was already known to God before you willed it. How free is your will then?
If God didn’t know what you would choose at any decision, then your will would be free; but God wouldn’t be omniscient since there would be things he didn’t know.
There’s been some interesting cases concerning free will.
In Virginia, a paedophilia was found to have a brain tumor. After the tumor was removed, he didn’t have any of his previous urges. USATODAY.com - Doctors say pedophile lost urge after brain tumor removed
How free was his will? Was he the pedophile, or was his tumor to blame? Removing the tumor cured him, so his urges weren’t “a character flaw”, but a physical ailment.
It appears that a lot of, if not most or all of what we think of as “free will” is simply chemical reactions in the brain. Alcohol changes people’s personalities; anti-depressant makes people coldly happy, etc. By modifying the reactions taking place in the brain, we change how people react and decide. Where’s free will in there?