Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

Free will

There were some interesting comments on free will and determinism a few posts back. There's a similar thread on metafilter today.

I think this commentator, though his language is inelegant, is right:

As concepts, Free Will and Determinism are both facile, because they assume a dichotomy of self vs. universe. When you view it as a whole, the self as a facet of the universe, and not a somehow magically isolated concept, both Free Will and Determinism cease to be relevant.


I think that's partly true. You could also put it the other way round and say the 'not me' is defined as that which does not obey my will. It comes to the same thing. However here are two posts from philosophers who think we have no free will.

Susan Blackmore: 'It is possible to live happily and morally without believing in free will'

Galen Strawson: Living Without Ultimate Moral Responsibility, getting free of free will.

And the obligatory limerick

There was an old man who said, 'Damn
At last I perceive that I am
But a creature that moves
In predestined grooves
Not a bus or a car but a tram'
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  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.