Free Will

[The Protector]

Skinner (or any determinist) would say that any experience of agency is illusory. Therefore, while one may think that one is expressing free will by choosing a favorite color, Skinner would say that that something in your history shaped your mind to choose that color. We would not be able to choose how determinism affects us because we don't actually make choices, we just have the illusory experience of making a choice. As jlay mentioned, however, if a deterministic account of the mind is true, there is no way to demonstrate it; if determinism is true, one's belief in the truth of determinism has little to do with that truth, but is merely the result of one's conditioning. On determinism, we really don't think at all; neurons simply fire mechanisticaly in response to stimuli, and the experience of "thought" is simply a curious epiphenomenon.

[PaulSacramento]

Skinner felt that all conclusions were inevitably from the environment. Following this line of reasoning, how would we be able to chose how it effects us if the chose we make is already determined?

The options presented to us my be limited, but the choice of which ones we choose are ours and yes, while they may be influenced by our environment they are not dictated by our environment because if they were then ALL people exposed to the same environment would all make the same choice(s).