Hi everyone

Human beings experience themselves as free in many cases.
We make choices, feel responsible, regret actions, and imagine alternatives

But are we truly free?

Or are our thoughts, desires, personality, biology, and environment already determining what we do before we become aware of it?

This discussion explores the nature of free will, determinism, responsibility, consciousness, and human agency

--

Important Thinker

Baruch Spinoz

Argued that humans believe themselves free only because they are unaware of the causes determining them

Key idea

Freedom may be understanding necessity

--

David Hum

Defended compatibilism
free will and causation may coexist

Key idea

Freedom means acting according to one’s motives without external coercion

--

Immanuel Kan

Believed morality requires freedom

Key idea

We must assume freedom in order to hold people morally responsible

--

Jean-Paul Sartr

One of the strongest defenders of radical freedom

Key idea

Humans are “condemned to be free.

Even refusing to choose is itself a choice

--

Friedrich Nietzsch

Criticized traditional notions of free will as moral constructions tied to guilt and punishment

Key idea

Free will may be invented to justify blame

--

Sam Harri

Contemporary critic of free will

Key idea

Thoughts and intentions arise before conscious control

--

Benjamin Libe

Famous for experiments suggesting the brain initiates actions before conscious awareness

Key idea

The brain may “decide” before consciousness does

--

Two-Hour Discussion Structur

--

Part I — What Is Free Will? (20 min

1. What do we mean by “free will”?
2. What makes an action truly free?
3. Is freedom the ability to do otherwise?
4. Are humans more free than animals?

--

Part II — Experience of Choice (20 min

1. Why do we feel free?
2. Can we directly experience free will?
3. Have you ever made a completely spontaneous decision?
4. Are our desires chos