D&D General I really LOVE Stomping Goblins

[Filthy Lucre]

Except you just said they 'inherently' have a goal. They have no other choice but to act on that prime directive.

So, you're probably going to go either crack some philosophy 101 or read some journal articles.

They DO have a choice about HOW they achieve their goal - ergo they have free will.

A person who makes even a single choice for which they could have done otherwise has exercised 'free will'. Even if the entire rest of their life is completely out of their control. If your requirement is that every single thing a person ever does or thinks must be 'free' then there are no philosophers alive, or dead, who have ever believed in your version of free will.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Have you got an example?

I feel like we all know who I'm talking about specifically.

~Hops into Batmobile and runs dozens off the road, blasting chainguns the whole time~

 

[Vaalingrade]

They DO have a choice about HOW they achieve their goal - ergo they have free will.

You just suggested that computer programs that have algorithms to pick courses of action have free will and asserted this is settled fact. I think we're done here.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I feel like we all know who I'm talking about specifically.

~Hops into Batmobile and runs dozens off the road, blasting chainguns the whole time~

I honestly didn't, but presumably Nolan in TDKR?

I don't think enjoying fictional mayhem renders one a "bad person" though, especially as some of the most genuinely altruistic people I know enjoy some pretty violent video games and horror movies and so on. Plenty of other stuff about TDKR (and some of elements of his other movies) would put him firmly in the "bad person" category for me though. Also the "magic cops are immune to bullets and so brave they charge into assault rifle fire armed only with batons" scene is possibly the dumbest and most unintentionally "telling on yourself" thing I've seen in a modern movie.

 

[Filthy Lucre]

You just suggested that computer programs that have algorithms to pick courses of action have free will and asserted this is settled fact. I think we're done here.

lmao Vaalingrade, you could not be more insufferable a dilettante. Here ya go, buddy: Free Will (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) this should get you started. But once you're in a PhD program for philosophy working on your dissertation, specifically on free will, please get back to me.

Algorithms do not "make choices" where they could have done otherwise given the exact same set of initial conditions. I guess you should also learn the definition of the phrase "to do otherwise".

 

[Vaalingrade]

I honestly didn't, but presumably Nolan in TDKR?

I don't think he had chainguns in the Dark Knight trilogy. Nor did Nolan go on record disparaging people who think Batman or Superman should stick to their Thou Shalt Not Kill credos.

 

[Cadence]

You just suggested that computer programs that have algorithms to pick courses of action have free will and asserted this is settled fact. I think we're done here.

I don't think that's what he was going for (although I could certainly be wrong and have no relevant formal training).

This isn't all of what I was thinking, but are there big spaces of auto-pilot that people go on between choices?

When you decide which street to leave the parking lot on, are there times you don't remember a single useful thought until you get home, for example?

For an addiction (food, alcohol, whatever), at the time for possibly partaking of it, is there a choice whether to enter/purchase, one about whether to take the first sip/bite that's harder, maybe one part way through to stop that's really hard, and then that's it?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

The coherent definition of free will and whether humans actually have it are among the biggest questions in philosophy so I am somewhat sceptical about the ability of this forum to answer them.

 

[Vaalingrade]

this should get you started. But once you're in a PhD program for philosophy working on your dissertation, specifically on free will, please get back to me.

~Glances at degree~

Go off then.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't think he had chainguns in the Dark Knight trilogy. Nor did Nolan go on record disparaging people who think Batman or Superman should stick to their Thou Shalt Not Kill credos.

Oooooh noooo! I'd forgotten that movie - Batman vs Superman! Awful! MARTHA! Uhgghhgghghg so bad. Ok now I'm with you.