It seems, that a lot of problems here stem from the fact that a lot of existing language is governed by the intuition of non-deterministic world. Common usage of words “choice”, “could”, “deliberation” etc. assume non-deterministic universe where state of “could be four apples” is actually possible. If our minds had easier time grasping that deliberation and action are phenomenons of the same grade, that action stems from deliberation, but there is no question of being able to “choose differently”, that existence deliberation itself is itself predetermined, we would have far fewer comments in this thread :) And Andy and Roland wouldn’t have to post the warnings and Hopeful wouldn’t have to struggle with “illusion of choice”. It seems a lot of comments here are laboring under misapprehension, that “if I knew that I lived in deterministic world, I would be able to forgo all the moral consideration and walk away from the orphanage”, where while this is definitely the case (a universe where you make such a choice would have to accommodate all the states leading to the action of walking away), nevertheless in the universe where you step into the fire to save a kid there is no state of you walking away anywhere.
Robin Z: thank you for enlightening me to formal classification of free will/determinism positions. As far as I know, the modern state of knowledge seems to supply strong evidence of us living in a deterministic universe. Once we take this as a fact, it seems to me the question of “free will” becomes more of a theological issue then a rational one.
It seems, that a lot of problems here stem from the fact that a lot of existing language is governed by the intuition of non-deterministic world. Common usage of words “choice”, “could”, “deliberation” etc. assume non-deterministic universe where state of “could be four apples” is actually possible. If our minds had easier time grasping that deliberation and action are phenomenons of the same grade, that action stems from deliberation, but there is no question of being able to “choose differently”, that existence deliberation itself is itself predetermined, we would have far fewer comments in this thread :) And Andy and Roland wouldn’t have to post the warnings and Hopeful wouldn’t have to struggle with “illusion of choice”. It seems a lot of comments here are laboring under misapprehension, that “if I knew that I lived in deterministic world, I would be able to forgo all the moral consideration and walk away from the orphanage”, where while this is definitely the case (a universe where you make such a choice would have to accommodate all the states leading to the action of walking away), nevertheless in the universe where you step into the fire to save a kid there is no state of you walking away anywhere.
Robin Z: thank you for enlightening me to formal classification of free will/determinism positions. As far as I know, the modern state of knowledge seems to supply strong evidence of us living in a deterministic universe. Once we take this as a fact, it seems to me the question of “free will” becomes more of a theological issue then a rational one.