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by senectus1 1874 days ago
> The standard argument against free will is sound.

I must have missed that memo :-P

3 comments

Just try to define what free will actually means and see things fall apart. The entire idea of free will makes no sense to begin with if one thinks clearly about it.
I suspect you're wrong. But you made the claim, could you supply some of this "clear thinking"?
If all events have causes, then nothing can happen spontaneously. A “will” in that world can’t be “free” or disconnected from the causal chain.

If there are events that don’t have causes, either they are random, or we need to introduce an unfalsifiable explanation. In a random world, a “will” is still constrained by rolls of the dice. It does not express itself. It is not “free”.

If we introduce a metaphysical explanation, then it is no longer science, and can properly be discarded as “nonsense” in the context of the project of inquiry into the physical world. In its company we find concepts like souls, ghosts, deities, magic, etc.

Same here!

I had a lot of fun with this lecture series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftIllWczf5w

The universe has planted a few sceptics to liven things up.