Could you forgive someone who shot you?

[tracilicious]

I think for myself, I would have an easier time forgiving something that was done to me than something that was done to a loved one. I don't see forgiveness in the foreseeable future for the man that started beating my niece at six weeks old, but I could probably forgive an idiot that fired a gun and accidentally shot me.

I think intent has a large part to do with ease of forgiveness.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

And I wonder how Alex has the free will to decide he has no free will?

I don't, any more than you do to decide that you do have free will.

However, I don't contest that of us perceives what we do as the result of free will. But I'm guessing if a rock were conscious and you threw it up into the air it would think it returned to the ground because it wanted to.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I absolutely believe that the little girl-- and the woman I know-- can forgive. But it's going to have to happen every day for the rest of their lives. And some days, they may not. Such is the process of forgiveness.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

I don't, any more than you do to decide that you do have free will.

However, I don't contest that of us perceives what we do as the result of free will. But I'm guessing if a rock were conscious and you threw it up into the air it would think it returned to the ground because it wanted to.

I'm curious then, what you attribute the decisions we make to.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Yeah. I try to get my mind around the Stroup but he always eludes me.

You're an atheist. You believe we aren't making choices. Who or what IS making the choices, Alex?

I'm not trying to be snarky, I just want to understand where you're coming from.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Also, and I meant to say this before:

If someone who shot me mistook me for a quail, I'd forgive him, but I'd demand his resignation from public office.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

I'm curious then, what you attribute the decisions we make to.

Physics. To what do you attribute the decision of water to flow downhill?

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Physics. To what do you attribute the decision of water to flow downhill?

Lol, I read psychics first and it took me a minute to figure out. Water isn't conscious in the same way we are though. (And no, I don't believe water to be completely unconscious.) Tonight when I choose between eating steak or salad, in what way does physics come into play? (Also not being snarky, just very interested.)

[Alex]

It is all brain chemistry. Just because the physics that cause you to do one thing or another are incredibly more complex than the physics that causes water to go downhill doesn't mean it isn't all just following a bunch of predetermined rules.

To believe in free will is to believe that something exists outside the fundamental rules of physics, that the connection between cause and effect can be severed. Now, most people are perfectly willing to believe such things, but I've seen no evidence to indicate such. Now, I do believe our brain chemistry is such that we have no choice to perceive free choice and can't help but act accordingly.

[Alex]

This is why free will is pretty much an idea outside of determination. A universe in which it exists and a universe in which it doesn't are essentially indistinguishable. Because you can't tell the difference between someone doing something because they "free willed" it and someone doing it because chemistry required it. Similarly with the opposite.

Just the metaphysical description of universe change. Read the links I posted above, Scott Adams pretty wells sums up where I'm coming from.