Hi John,
You would ask that
. This is only my musings, formulated in the wee hours, so please take it as just that. However, I will attempt to put down in this post my reasoning.
In a purely naturalistic universe there is a cause to every effect. People are products of their heredity and environment and every choice we make is dependent on the events that lead up to the moment of choice. I suppose that you could argue that the ability to make a choice constitutes free will and in fact this is one definition of free will:
The ability or discretion to choose; free choice: chose to remain behind of my own free will. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
However, the second definition of free will is:
The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
All choices are constrained by external circumstances.
In a theistic universe, one designed and controlled by a supreme being, all choices are constrained by this being. God being the one that defines the choices we are given.
AHHHH. I guess I have to make a change to my original musings concerning a deistic universe. A being that started the initial creation and set in motion the physical laws of the universe, but has no further input in this creation, has still left no unconstrained choice.
Maybe there IS no such thing as a true free will, unconstrained by external circumstances. What we have is a "choice" bounded by a set of options determined by our heredity and environment and the decision we make is likewise determined by these same factors.
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(editorial disclaimer)This has been an exercise showing the differences in my thought processes on NO sleep and on eight hours of sleep. LOL (all thoughts subject to change at my whim
)
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Asgara
"An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates via Plato