Philosophy goes in /Science/
Nice topic!
Needs some definitions though. Philosophy, done properly, requires precision. Feel free to disagree with these and suggest improvement!
Will: volition, conscious directedness of thought toward some goal
Free will: will not bound to external causality (e.g. influence of environment, genetics, upbringing, stock market). When person A does action B, and it was the case that he could have NOT done B, he acted with free will.
Determinism: belief that the future is something specific. May be because the universe acts in a definite mechanical fashion, or because God decrees what will be. This view precludes the possibility of free will. You will do what you will do, your future actions are something specific, already set in stone/whatever reality is made of.
Fatalism: Determinism PLUS the belief that human choices and actions are unable to influence the future, because whatever will be, will be.
responsibility: person A is responsible for action B if it is appropriate to blame or praise A for the occurrence of B
I believe in determinism, but not fatalism. Actions and choices are real, and have effects on the world. This seems quite obvious, and to deny it would be self-refuting. Observe:
If our good friend >>1 really was powerless to affect reality, this thread wouldn't exist. QED.
>>2
The OP said human actions are powerless. How can that not affect how he lives his life!? Well, admittedly, people don't always act consistently with their espoused beliefs...
>A certain person, in a certain situation at a certain time, will react a certain way
I completely agree. Law of causality~
>Humans are constantly free and constantly under control.
Free of what? You say we are under control. I agree with that. We are not free of what controls us.
There is no contradiction in this: we are in control of our actions, and we are controlled by influences out of our control. Nozick put forward a great analogy: a thermostat controls a room's temperature. A thermostat is obviously controlled by external factors: the laws of physics, the material constitution of the room and itself.
>>5
I, for one, do not reject the concept responsibility. A rejection of free will does not imply fatalism. Human actions are part of the world, not separate from it.