Free will???Many theorists, including Freud and Skinner, have argued that we do not have free will?

Question

Many sociologists suggest that our decisions, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, choices, and options

are constrained by social forces. What do you think?

Answer 1

I agree somewhat, but our decisions can change for sure.

Answer 2

free will means the ability to chose a course of action. in this we do have free will. the social constarints  affect our choices but we still have THE choice, ie we can chose to run over a pedestrain or not to. the social ramifications  make us not do this are true but the 'choice' of if we do or not to  remains .thus free will be the ability to exercise a choice  to suit ourselves remains a reality. you have a choice every day  to partake in scoial; activities or not. we find by working together, people make up social rules to 'reward' those who  adhere to these rules in order for us to get along. To say we have to 'follow' social restraints is  a choice. therefore free will remains valid even as we choose to follow the  line of least resistance and  avoid social or economic problems by doing so. it does not mean we are constarined just following the best  way of coexisting. in affect rewarding oursleves by doping teh 'correct' thing expected by our fellow man. You can still  choose not to do this for example, don't open a door for a lady or give up aseat for a heavily expectant mother to be on a bus etc. all are our choices and still valid choices made be free will. if you had no free will nobody would ever break social rules or the laws laid down. as we often do even by speeding we have chosen to decide when ,how and to what level we  will allow constraints to be applied. Therefore we are free agents of our own will.

Answer 3

Free will is essentially an illusion.  A thought is a physical process with causes and effects, just like everything else.  Ultimately these causes extend beyond your control.  Neurons are made of particles and particles act in accordance with physical laws.

Imagine, hypothetically, that there is some intelligence capable of knowing the exact state of every particle in the universe at a particular point in time.  And this intelligence also knows the laws which govern the movement of these particles.  Logically this intelligence should be able to determine from this information the exact state of the universe at any point in the future, simply by calculating the movement of each particle.

Of course this is impossible in practice.  According to the Uncertainty Principle we cannot know the exact state of even a single particle, and any intelligence that knew the state of every particle would have to contain more particles than the universe.  But the concept remains valid; all events are necessitated by previous events.  Thoughts are not magical or supernatural in any way, they remain tied to the same chain of cause and effect as everything else.

Answer 4

To a certain degree our socialization does not allow for choice (like poverty). However, there are some people who work hard against the poverty they were born into and go to school and become professionals even if they were discouraged by teachers or they got into questionable behavior in the past. There is always a choice but within reason of course.

Skinner studied dogs. Freud got all his material from studying misfits in the Victorian era which was sexually repressing. Skinner and Freud attempted to apply their theories to the healthy human population who know more about choice than a hungry dog and a sexually repressed Victorian middle class woman.