Nature, Nurture, and Free Will

very well said, actually we have an assignment about these nature,nurture and free will,,, now seems interesting for me, btw i am thankful you explained it well:))

Very interesting presentation. my position in that only the third part of your will is conscious, so we are most influencied by our unconscious mind and here is where we must work to have a positive personality.I don' t speak englih so well, I' m psychologist and work on it. thanks.

R. Akiva Tatz mentions this too. Plus, he said that sometimes people don't take responsibiliy for their actions because they feel they couldn't help it. But really people Do have a choice. They might have had a hard childhood and grew up stealing things, but whether or not they steal at that moment is up to them.

a person is responsible for his/her actions even when the level of conflict seems beyond his free will limit. you gave an example of a person growing up in an environment where murder is a normal option and his free will is in the realm of what weapon to choose.I disagree. I'd say that anyone who knows that he would not want it done to them has enough free will to stop him from doing it to others. Only humans have free will in the sense that it means we can choose to follow a weaker yaitzer tov over a stronger yaitzer hara

Enjoyed this presentation on a long debated issue. The statement that everyone has freewill, but no two people have the same free will, emphasizes the many different factors that make up each of our experiences and/thus the exercise of our wills, our choices. What a complex milieu of nature and nurture the Creator provides for our development.

Very insightful, and Biblical. Toda Rabba, Ravi!

The first two times I listened mostly to your kind of "English" sounding English, which I enjoyed. I agree with all you said, and I am happy to be Jewish. Nowhere else could I hear - no matter where I came from - I am never a "lost case" in certain aspects of life. There is always free will. And my weakest point can become my greatest strength.I learned that only a few years ago, while learning for Giur le chumrah, that there is no determination for me to be like this or that. (I thought that for nearly 70 years!) But nice and intelligent Rabbis made me change my opinion about myself. And now I see it w o r k s! - I also look forward to more! Thank you for telling us those important things !!!

Thank you very much for so succinctly explaining free will in this way. It was comprehensive but not overwhelming. I look forward to more!