My lappy’s running low on battery so let’s see how fast I can articulate my thoughts before it dies.

Does free will exist? I used to think so, but the more I think about it, the more I talk about it with people, the more I read about it, the less convinced I am. Every time we start studying a new text in class, there is a context lecture on the author and the social and political climate of the time. This is so we have a foundation to build a meaningful analysis of the text. Every time, we find things in the text which reflect the author’s background or common views and values of the time that they’re writing in.

I don’t think this is intentional on the author’s part, I think it just comes out naturally. So if we can find reasons for why the author writes what they write, does this mean that they’re just a product of their society, that they’ve been conditioned to be the way that they are? If free will truly existed, then theoretically, writers would be able to write for an infinite number of different topics and these would have no reason attributable to it.

Or is it a matter of defining what free will means? Is free will, infinite choice? Can you have free will if your choices are limited?