Determinism

Notes

Determinism is the idea that theoretically, everything is a result of a chain of events, led by cause and effect. The easiest field that we believe is deterministic is mechanics. Things move according to the forces that influence them, in a very expectable way. Like when a ball hits another ball, that one didn't have the ability to do anything other than moving in the exact location that can be calculated by physics formulas. Reminds:: Reductionism

Similarly, other scientific fields such as electricity, chemistry, all are limited by rules that are universal and unbreakable such that it is technically possible to calculate the outcome of each situation.

If this is true, what are the conclusions for human action? After all, human actions are perhaps just a collection of chemical responses, or electrical signals. Aren't we like the ball that was hit, being forced to act in a certain way? That is the greatest challenge to free will.

We wish to think that it's wrong, since humans often act in an unpredictable way, but perhaps that's just because We can't read minds, and because life is complex. we also assume we have Agency over our actions. That doesn't mean that we are acting in an indeterministic way, but rather we haven't been able to identify all the relevant variables, and find the formula that will produce the exact predictions.

Maybe it's all just a façade, like a video game character that thinks it is real. Maybe free will is just a biological bias, meant to help us remain active, while it is not more than an illusion.

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Free Will (MOC) 🔗Link::