A Big Question

I’ve just emerged from an extended exchange about human free will.
There seemed to be agreement that many people believe that they have
free will, but disagreement about whether this belief is valid or
delusional. I plunged into this topic because I don’t see how, without
free will, my life can have the meaning that comes from personal
responsibility for my decisions. I don’t see the possibility of
satisfaction from being a puppet in God’s drama, or a pre-programmed
machine, or a creature controlled by chaotic randomness. I don’t need
complete freedom from the constraints of time and place, and I don’t
need to deny that my choices are influenced by predilections and
experiences.
But if my conscious self has no control over any of my decisions, I
don’t see why should I feel any pride in my good decisions and regret
for my bad decisions; they were not MY decisions.

So my Big Question is this: Are free will and personal responsibility
inextricably linked, or can one exist without the other?

(Implicit in what I’ve written here are some controversial assumptions
about such things as the nature of self, the value of individuality,
and the meaning of free will. If my assumptions block you from
answering the question I asked, please save your doubts and challenges
for another discussion. I am eager to respond to comments that address
the question I asked, within the framework of my implicit
assumptions.)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: A Big Question
    ... But if my conscious self has no control over any of my decisions, ... So my Big Question is this: Are free will and personal responsibility ... within the framework of my implicit ...
    (sci.philosophy.meta)
  • Re: Infinite Loops and Explicit Exits
    ... >> causes control to be passed to an implicit CONTINUE statement ... >The inline PERFORM context is, I believe, adequately covered already in EXIT ... I should have said 'implicit scope terminator'. ... "Scope terminators serve to delimit the scope of certain procedure ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Extending/Inheriting classes to produce valid XHTML from ASP.NET v1.1
    ... > page and control. ... > PreSendRequestHeaders ... If this is the only way to get around the implicit firing of the parent ... stop my method from implicitly calling the parent method. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • Re: Infinite Loops and Explicit Exits
    ... > I should have said 'implicit scope terminator'. ... > "Scope terminators serve to delimit the scope of certain procedure ... Inline PERFORMs and out-of-line PERFORMs are clearly distinguished by those ... control" and two in the "undefined language element list". ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Theyre Going To Put Refugees On Cruise Ships
    ... education are the keys to success.They also taught me that I am ... I have personal responsibility. ... I controlled my urges and did not become and u nwed parent. ... want to control Where I live, ...
    (rec.travel.cruises)