/lit/ - Literature

Is free will possible within a materialistic framework? I don't believe the world can function scientifically logically and consistently, and still allow people the free will to control who they become and their own destinies. One will always violate the other. I have found no way to reconcile these two seemingly impossible contradictions in a convincing way within the restrictive bounds of materialism. A lot of great minds like Newton and Descartes have argued that it cannot exist within a physical world, and since we cannot prove or disprove a metaphysical realm, then it renders freedom of choice within a strictly physical world totally obsolete

Thoughts?

Also, I have seen several theories that some people are just robots without a soul or real self-awareness. Maybe they possess a soul but have chosen to give up on self-awareness and operate purely based on a mix of what others, their society, and their raw instincts tell them to. Temporarily pushing back self-awareness and the burdens that come with it, with my own actions seems at least partially possible. The most obvious method is simply going to sleep, but it seems like consuming media or doing very strenuous tasks can do something similar for a time. You get pushed into your body and must live in the moment, acting only on the input that you receive from your environment. No real thoughts are necessary or even possible; you simply do the calculations necessary to process the information or do the thing you are doing. Perhaps simply putting on the mask of a predefined role in ordinary life is how many people do it. It really is a tough question to answer.

Picture is by Descartes, arguing physicalism in our world.