⚡ THE PROBLEM OF FREE WILL
PAGE 1 OF 5 — DID YOU CHOOSE TO READ THIS?
THE BIG QUESTION
YOU FEEL FREE. BUT ARE YOU?
Right now you feel like you are making choices. You chose to pick up this comic. You chose to keep reading. But what if every thought you have ever had was the inevitable result of the state of your brain, which was shaped by your genes, your upbringing, the food you ate, and everything that ever happened to you? If every cause has a prior cause, stretching back to the Big Bang, did you ever actually choose anything at all?
⚖️ WHY THIS MATTERS
If free will does not exist, can we hold criminals responsible for their actions? Should we punish anyone? The answer to this philosophical question shapes the entire legal system, moral philosophy, and how we treat each other.
CHOOSE?
THREE CAMPS
🔗 Hard Determinism: free will is a complete illusion
✨ Libertarian Free Will: we genuinely choose
🧠 Compatibilism: both can be true at the same time
✨ Libertarian Free Will: we genuinely choose
🧠 Compatibilism: both can be true at the same time
THE STAKES
⚖️ Legal responsibility depends on this answer
💔 Moral blame and praise depend on this answer
💥 Every punishment assumes someone could have chosen differently
💔 Moral blame and praise depend on this answer
💥 Every punishment assumes someone could have chosen differently