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Indeed, what I am saying is that you can have the deterministic universe, or the random universe, and still have free-will, properly understood. Note that from
by benpbenp 13y ago
Indeed, what I am saying is that you can have the deterministic universe, or the random universe, and still have free-will, properly understood.
Note that from the outside, free-will is by definition apparently "random". It is a black box not determined by any variables in the greater world.
What matters is that the free-will is mine or yours-- that the entity known as to me as myself or to you as yourself should also possess this power of determination which to the outside world appears random.
To witness to the lack of a logical incompatibility with determinism, you can posit a model wherein the will does something like project itself in both time directions in such a way as to keep up the "illusion of determinism". Not that I think such a mechanism is actually in place; this model is just to show there is no logical contradiction, and there could be other models that do the same.
- aninhumer 13y agoI seem to have misunderstood your post (and possibly conflated it with others). I thought you were arguing that "free will" was a third possibility, distinct from a deterministic or probabilistic universe. I am entirely happy to accept that free will is compatible with determinism, and it sounds like we have similar views on this issue. Personally I consider ownership of "will" to be a far more important notion than that of some abstract metaphysical "freedom".
- benpbenp 13y agoProbably due to my sloppiness, let me try to sort it out... Free-will is a third possibility opposed to determinism of choice and pure randomness of choice. But it is compatible with a either a deterministic or a probabilistic universe.
- eevilspock 13y agoI'm still confused by your point. "Because by his free-will man moves himself to act" seems to beg the question. Which direction does a woman act? I'm assuming her actions are determined by "who she is". If not, what are we referring by "her". My choice of the feminine above was a choice, but not one everyone would make. So how could it be anything but determined by who I am?