Posted: May 18, 2017 3:19 pm
felltoearth wrote:felltoearth wrote:Here's one question that comes to mind. Do babies and children have free will? If so, and we view free will as a good thing, why then do adults not let children exercise their free will?
I'm going to bump this as I don't think it's that stupid a question. Do children have free will, and if so, why do adults curtail it?
Using free will in the legal and social sense (not suggesting any freedom from the laws of nature), having free will means having freedom to choose, being trusted by other people not to make choices which are silly or dangerous or unduly selfish. It's nice to have that freedom of action, and in that sense it's a good thing, but for the group members offering that freedom there's always an element of risk, that the freedom will be misused. Children are too young to be trusted with adult freedoms, they are offered choices they can handle, increasing as they approach adulthood. I have a feeling I may be failing to address your question?