> As for free will, anyone saying we don’t have it is doing bad science since every person knows they do.
Free will: the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
A known side effect of Parkinson’s drugs is the development of compulsive, (hypo)manic behaviors like gambling and hypersexuality — people who have been very straight laced their entire lives can change drastically. Are you suggesting that we should hold such patients equally accountable for making poor choices, as they are just as free willed as anyone else?
What of people with crippling, general anxiety, of no fault of their own, but simply as a result of genetics or exposure? If they aren’t as productive or let things slip, is that because they simply aren’t trying hard enough? (Even there — if we say one is trying harder, does that not imply an impediment to “act at one's own discretion”?)
Perhaps we should consider banning ADHD medication altogether — given everyone has free will, what practical difference does it make to put a substance into people’s bodies — they can just choose to make good decisions, right?
Of the decisions you regret, and knew that you would before acting, why did you make them? Why haven’t you just made the meta-choice of choosing to choose the right things from here on out? You can see the utility in making such a choice, right? So can you make that choice? Your discretion would likely be to make that choice, so all that’s left is to act on that discretion, which should be no problem because you have free will and you are not constrained by the natural chemical processes occurring in your brain and the physical laws that define them.
Free will: the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
A known side effect of Parkinson’s drugs is the development of compulsive, (hypo)manic behaviors like gambling and hypersexuality — people who have been very straight laced their entire lives can change drastically. Are you suggesting that we should hold such patients equally accountable for making poor choices, as they are just as free willed as anyone else?
What of people with crippling, general anxiety, of no fault of their own, but simply as a result of genetics or exposure? If they aren’t as productive or let things slip, is that because they simply aren’t trying hard enough? (Even there — if we say one is trying harder, does that not imply an impediment to “act at one's own discretion”?)
Perhaps we should consider banning ADHD medication altogether — given everyone has free will, what practical difference does it make to put a substance into people’s bodies — they can just choose to make good decisions, right?
Of the decisions you regret, and knew that you would before acting, why did you make them? Why haven’t you just made the meta-choice of choosing to choose the right things from here on out? You can see the utility in making such a choice, right? So can you make that choice? Your discretion would likely be to make that choice, so all that’s left is to act on that discretion, which should be no problem because you have free will and you are not constrained by the natural chemical processes occurring in your brain and the physical laws that define them.