Of course we have a free will, the Left's just doing everything in it's power to suppress it !
Only those with no common sense are allowed to express it.

This article demonstrates the kind of absurd conclusions reached by those who glorify the objective and deny the subjective.

To JP,

I read your piece and you seem to conflate our capacity for reason, with a necessity for free will.

This is simply not true, as we see with certain individuals being capable of better reasoning than others, due to factors outside of their control such as their genetics and their upbringing.

Sam Harris was clearly born with a high verbal IQ, and perhaps high conscientiousness which has led him to pursue the path of philosophy and writing that he has. He didn't choose to be born with that IQ, or the fact that he was interested in writing and philosophy over say mathematics and engineering, just as someone with an intellectual difficulty didn't choose their brain.

Determinism doesn't negate reason, and I'm not sure why you think it does.

We are still conscious beings, who influence one another through our behaviors - willed or otherwise. Sam had the inclination to write a book, and the book will change the minds of those who perhaps have an interest in the topic, and who are open to reason.

Could you perhaps explain HOW we have come to have free will?

Every aspect of your mind was not your construction. Your genetics, the environment and year in which they were proliferated, your parents, your upbringing and so on. If these are the factors which have since led to the thoughts which emerge in your mind, how then can you claim them as your own?

You are right, OzSpen, I have not provided a definition of free will in the article. To paraphrase Sam Harris, free will is the feeling of being an author of your own thoughts, the controller inside your head. A quick glance into the comments section of this thread will give you an indication that many people possess to this view.

Louis

To Louis.

Think of role of structure in our lives as to influencing our capacity to choose freely. For instance consider a home with multiple rooms, to a home that only has a few. The structure of the home might not be something a person built themself. It might be that the person would have liked a different home entirely but was limited on the choices they could choose from. None the less if comparing one home with two bedrooms to a home with four bedrooms, the simple reality of it is that the home with only two has less options then the one with four rooms. The structure of the home limits or increases the possibilities of that home. Number of rooms, being a house or an apartment, narrow stairs or easy access all contribute to the options of what a person can do in their home.

In the same way, we have structure in each of us. Our past, our current physical ability, and mental attributes, and any habits we currently have or desires of where we want to go. That structure can increase our options or restrict them, but it never restricts anything to the point that we no longer have the ability to choose.

To push the point further, there are many people that step outside of their current limitations. Being out of shape in the past, and their training and exercise to be in better shape succeeds. Or the person who was an alcoholic and fought hard to overcome the habits and addiction may one day be free of it. There is choice as is evident by those who are successful against the odds. Even without success there is always a choice.

One limit of choice is not considering an option. Possibly not even knowing it's there. But limited choices is not the same as having no choice.

Louis,

Thank you for your response.

<< To paraphrase Sam Harris, free will is the feeling of being an author of your own thoughts, the controller inside your head>>

That's an existential understanding - 'the feeling'.

I'm of the view that free will is the power of contrary choice. It was given in the beginning when Adam and Even were provided with this alternative: They could choose whatever they wanted but God placed a choice before them, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

They chose to break God's law.

Adam and Eve would have been robots without this choice. They weren't morally programmed in the brain to do what they had no choice to reject. They, like us, are free human beings who can choose a Ferrari over a Ford, to commit adultery or not, to steal from an employer or be an honest employee.

We are able to choose good from evil. Thus, we are truly free. This principle of the power of contrary choice was written into the moral framework of the universe from the beginning of time.