The problem of free will is the problem of whether rational
agents exercise control over their own actions and decisions.
(Wikipedia) Intuitively, it seems simple. I wake up every
morning and choose lots of things â€“ what Iâ€™m going to have
for breakfast, what Iâ€™m going to wear, whether or not I feel
like going to work. My instinct tells me that I have free will.
But some say itâ€™s just an illusion. Determinists believe that
humans are predictable, programmed with genetic data, past
experience, and environmental influences; all of our actions and
reactions foreseeable. Behaviorists experimented with dogs to
demonstrate predictable responses based on learned association
with stimuli. Dogs arenâ€™t people, but we too learn by
association. Seeing a TV commercial about a juicy steak might
make us salivate. The ringing of the dinner bell did it for the
dogs. Along this same line of reasoning, some would argue that
when choosing from the menu of possible reactions to a given
situation, we have no more control