Free will is an instinct

Debating with some friends and by definition we came to the conclusion that free will is an instinct, not the choice you make with free will but free will itself. I will explain how we got to this point in the near future, but right now I would like to hear other people's opinions. Oh by the way, we are not talking about free will verse fate here. This free will is not the you control your destiny free will, but the you have ability to make choose between strawberry jam or grape jam. Have fun answering.

Instinctively I would say that semantics would play a vital role in this debate
In my dictionary instinct involves intuition compound reflex action; inborn impulse or propensity unconscious skill urged from within. . Several factors could influence a choice that involves two jams... such as a childhood memory. conditioned response or many other intellectual reasons that would explain a preference

" many animals live by a daily and fixed survival routine without clever choices."

Do we know this for sure?

(I agree with you, just being critical)

Ok, here is how my friends and I came to our conclusion.
One must first understand that instinct is the unlearned, or innate (meaning it is engrained in us from the time we are born; no one teaches it to us) habits, patterns, or actions that animals and humans do. People would argue that animals are governed by instincts more than humans, but I beg to differ. We name certain actions instincts because we see a pattern of all the animals in a particular species following these actions in a like-manner. Not all species have the same instincts though.

For example in the animal kingdom, cheetahs catch a gazelle by attacking it's hind legs usually and then going for the throat. Most predators go for the throats, this can be seen in cats, big and small, dogs, and other predators. This idea of killing something by going for its throat is an instinct. A bigger instinct is to reproduce. Male black widows reproduce even though it means the death of them. I'm sure if they had the cognitive thinking they would say life sucks, and very few of them would actually mate. However, we know this is untrue and all male black widows try to mate; Therefore creating this urge to reproduce an instinct.

For humans, one instinct is to yank back a hand from a hot stove. A person will actually pull their hand off the stove before they feel the pain. This is ingrained in every person's brain before they are born. (I do not mean the act of not touching the stove, but pulling the hand away) Women have the instinct of being a mother to children. I am not saying a good mother, they are taught how to be good mothers, but females have a motherly instinct. If everyone is on the same page as I am after this explanantion of instinct tell me and I will post again to continue my explanation of how free will is an instinct.

Alright, true, sorry bad example on the reflex thing, but females being motherly is a good example, and the urge to reproduce is one that can be found in both animals and humans. Tomorrow I will explain the free will aspect of it.

Humans tend to rationalize choices. Out of respect for your purely objective look at free will I won’t try to get into the spiritual aspects. But could anyone deny that most humans have basic urges, which might include pride, covetousness, lust, gluttony envy, and sloth? I have observed many of these urges in my little dogs

Humans rule

ok, here is the definition of free will that I am speaking of. This has nothing to do with controling your own destiny or anything like that. As I am speaking of free will here I am speaking of the ability to make choices. This has nothing to do with the choice you make. Many argue that free will has to do with the fact that that choice, and consequence is unique in the fact that you made it and it was not predestined by something else. That is not what I am saying. Free will is just the ability to make the choice, not the philosophical thought that one controls his destiny or future. Does this make sense to everybody?

Some evolutionist have a theory that a distant ancestor of ours made a choice to stand up to free his or her hands for food gathering. Then the creature slowly adapted by passing physical changes to its offspring. But you are not asking us to determine what caused the creature to make this choice. The philosophical question of cause and effect applies to free will and instinct does it not?

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Chemical dependency occurs when a person chooses to abuse prescription or illegal drugs to the point where living centers around avoiding withdrawal.
According to The St. Jude Retreat House and The Jude Thaddeus Program which do not provide services requiring certification by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. They claim Alcoholism and Drug Addiction are not Diseases
DISEASE
1. A pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.
2. A condition or tendency, as of society, regarded as abnormal and harmful.
3. Obsolete. Lack of ease; trouble
Alcoholism and Drug Addiction seem to meet the second and third definitions in my book
What do you think?
If Alcoholism and Drug Addiction were a natural instinct wouldn’t all animals be addicted?
Does a healthy mind make choices to harm the body?
If the condition of the mind, that kills 100,000 Americans every year, is healthy why do so many seek treatment?

If we make choices with our mind heart and soul. can the spirit heal the mind?

I am speaking of free will stripped away from the psychological sense and spiritual. I mean free will as merely the ability to make choices, not the choices we make or whether we are actually in control of our choices. It is just teh ability to make the choice.

Instinct we have deemed as an inherent mannerism that is patterned in a species or even multiple species, as I have given examples of already.

All humans, or homo sapiens, which fall under the same species, have the same inherent ability, as well as the desire to make choices, which we have deemed to be free will. Therefore, logically, free will proves to be an instinct by definition. There, I have thus proven why Free Will is an instinct. Thus humans are ruled by instinct. However this does mean that one instinct can overide the other instinct. The instinct to sexually reproduce can be overidden by another instinct, Free Will, or the ability to make choices, and a person can choice to love a same sex partner, canceling out the idea of reproduction with that person. Same with the maternal instincts of females. Some females maternal instinct is overidden by their free will, ability to choose, to give their babies up for adoption and so forth. Hope you all understand I cannot think of a way of making it any simpler.

If all you guys are going to do is bash eachother, do it on your own space, do not waste this thread with your whining and insults. Goodness. Everyone has an opinion, threads are made to ask opinion, we are not esablishing facts, and it is okay to disagree just don't yell at the other person because if it. You guys are acting like a pair of three year olds, honestly.

-Tainted Mikochan

The ability to make choices is a patterned behavior that can be found throughout the species homo sapien. Therefore it is an instinct.

Cory I am not disputing your theory but I can understand why some could be confused about it. I cannot retrace an article written by an atheist that implied there were many words in the dictionary that were obsolete but I found it to be thought provoking even though I am not an atheist. Among the words the atheist would like to see removed from the dictionary was mind and soul. I suppose his reasoning was that words that described subjective concepts were not scientific and should no longer get attention. In other words he would like to put poets out of business. His argument was that it is apparent the soul and spirit was a misconception of a substance we know as air today. The soul was the breath that marked the line between life and death. The article also stated that the mind was poorly understood by ancients, and that philosophers who separated the mind from the cognitive process were in error. He said that the mind could be altered out of existence. Ability to make a choice is not an involuntary reflex .It could be compared to the words can and may.
1 [obsolete] : KNOW, UNDERSTAND2 archaic : to be able to do, make, or accomplishintransitive senses, archaic : to have knowledge or skillverbal auxiliary1 a : know how to b : be physically or mentally able to c -- used to indicate possibility -- sometimes used interchangeably with may d : be permitted by conscience or feeling to e : be made possible or probable by circumstances to f : be inherently able or designed to g : be logically or axiologically able to h : be enabled by law, agreement, or custom to2 : have permission to -- used interchangeably with may usage Can and may are most frequently interchangeable in senses denoting possibility; because the possibility of one's doing something may depend on another's acquiescence, they have also become interchangeable in the sense denoting permission. The use of can to ask or grant permission has been common since the 19th century and is well established, although some commentators feel may is more appropriate in formal contexts. May is relatively rare in negative constructions (mayn't is not common); cannot and can't are usual in such contexts.

If we isolate the oxygen from the hydrogen it feeds the fire that water could extinguish
If we isolate the natural will from the mind we can ignore our passion or desires