The supreme being, be it God or something else, embued man with the ability to think, act and discover. What we do with that freedom is up to us. It could be we are still learning, and that means lots of mistakes, as mistakes are part of learning. If God is replaced by science, then we must understand why there are physical laws that govern the universe. Sometimes all it takes is a good look at what the world actually is: interactive ecosystems, the wondrous beauty of a sunset, or the miracle of life. Attributing that to an interaction of chemicals and intersecting force fields leaves out the magic of creation. After all, God supposedly left us to our own devices to explore this world. What conclusions we draw are interpretive answers...we have objective viewpoints, not subjective. Utimately, we have only scratched the surface in our quest for answers. Sometimes, it's easier to believe something is behind our existence. The church calls it faith.

Welcome Opiette101!

I read your post but am not sure what you wish to say about free will. Can you elaborate?

I mentioned free will because we have it. We decide what is right or wrong, good or bad and have the ability to make a choice.
Referring to the Hegelian dialectic, or Hegal's viewpoint, we are all governed by the moral imperative...in that we know when something is good or bad, and we should do the right thing.
Of course others always do the wrong thing, and don't care about how many poeple they hurt, but that is just their makeup.

We choose what we do, and live with the consequences...that is our conscious speaking...unless there is a sociopathic streak in your make-up, so you never worry about consequences....

Originally posted by Opiette101
We choose what we do, and live with the consequences...that is our conscious...unless there is a sociopathic streak in your make-up, so you never worry about consequences....

I think they (sociopaths) do worry about the consequences of getting caught but they enjoy imposing pain and terror on another enough to override the fear of getting caught.

Do they in reality have freewill or have they been environmentally desensitized to the point where freewill no longer operates?? Since in essence they have no conscience do they have freewill?

I know my dog has true free will because he will lick his nutz in public. I wonder how many men would be married if they could perform this trick???? :D :D

Originally posted by Opiette101
Sometimes all it takes is a good look at what the world actually is: interactive ecosystems, the wondrous beauty of a sunset, or the miracle of life. Attributing that to an interaction of chemicals and intersecting force fields leaves out the magic of creation.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Attributing interactive ecosystems, or sunsets, or the interaction of chemcials to "magic" leaves rationality (not to mention sanity) out of the equation.

I mentioned seeing the magic in ecosystems and complex macros just to point out the wonder of things...
Of course we can analyze things: scientifically, clouds form according to evaporated moisture and adiabatic rates, while a saturated dew point produces rain, but explaining something still leaves the wonder and beauty pure and just to enjoy. We can always look "under the hood", but it's wonderful to just appreciate the asthetic appeal and leave the physical laws in a book...