tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7532871.post688009200126863625..comments2024-03-13T13:29:33.800-05:00Comments on SocraticGadfly: A la Samuel Johnson, I refute #determinism thusUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7532871.post-13440897966648732872015-11-17T21:15:48.408-06:002015-11-17T21:15:48.408-06:00Well written, but I think you're actually, mai...Well written, but I think you're actually, mainly, espousing what I defined as the normal belief in determinism, cases such as the car driver for the Boston bombers aside. I don't think you're onto anything more profound than that.Gadflyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13075757287807731373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7532871.post-60212464711692756442015-11-17T20:29:24.055-06:002015-11-17T20:29:24.055-06:00Ordinary free will and ordinary determinism get on...Ordinary free will and ordinary determinism get on famously. <br /><br />Free will is just us making decisions for ourselves. An unfree will is when someone else forces us to choose or act against our will. <br /><br />Ordinary examples are all cases where we act voluntarily rather being required, or behave autonomously. You'll actually find "free will" carved into the definition of those terms in the SOED. <br /><br />A dramatic example of unfree will was when one of the Boston Marathon bombers hijacked a car and forced the driver to aid in his escape. Because the driver was not acting of his own free will he was not guilty of "aiding and abetting" the crime. <br /><br />Note that there is no suspension of causation in these examples. <br /><br />Philosophers and theologians are actually arguing about "freedom from causation" rather than free will. And to end the confusion they should really just say what they mean. <br /><br />Every decision we make of our own free will is also inevitable. This shouldn't come as any shock, because if we had good reasons to make that choice the first time then those reasons led us inevitably to that choice. <br /><br />So both determinism and free will are there simultaneously in every choice we make. But of these two facts, autonomy and inevitability, only one has any practical use. <br /><br />Inevitability makes itself irrelevant by its very ubiquity. Everything that happens is inevitable. But that fact doesn't tell you anything you can use when making any decision. After all, if we knew <b>which</b> choice was inevitable, we would never have to make a choice to begin with. But we don't. We still have to complete our deliberation and decide which option was inevitable. <br /><br />The specific causes of specific effects are useful. This knowledge can help us control ourselves an our environment. But the specific fact of inevitability itself is like a constant that is always on both sides of every equation. It can be subtracted from both sides without affecting the results. <br />Marvin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12092643047976915101noreply@blogger.com