Dave writes: "May I remind you that free will is not indeterminism, but a
subcategory of determinism."
"Indeterminism" is your choice of words. Not mine.
In any case, I do not agree that free will is a subcategory of
determinism. Neither you nor I is a "meat machine."
"Choice is circumscribed. In given circumstances, a person may choose
between A and B, say, but not from an infinite set of alternatives."
I do not disagree, of course. But since free will entails choosing either
A or B, the material world is necessarily changed depending on our
choice.
The alternative to this is to argue that free will is an illusion; that
our conscious mind simply rationalizes our actions which are not within
our control. I think B. F. Skinner (and others have argued this. It is,
as far as I'm concerned, nonsense.
"But it all happens within a causal world."
Largely. But not entirely. Acts of free will effect the future in myriads
of ways every day.
Burgy
www.burgy.50megs.com/truth.htm
My review of TWO GREAT TRUTHS, by David Griffin
"Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence
to a humble and grateful mind." --Epictetus
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Sat Sep 15 16:31:15 2007
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Sep 15 2007 - 16:31:15 EDT