Sunday, April 17, 2016

I've released a discussion paper, Free Will and Compatibilism, on the age old question of whether human beings can possess free will if we live in a deterministic universe. The scientific view of the universe is increasingly painting a picture of human beings as being subject to the same causal laws as all other entities in the universe. It appears all of our thoughts, desires and actions are predetermined by the same blind forces of nature. If this is true, then in what sense can we act other than what we actually did at the time? How can we be held morally responsible if we could not have acted otherwise? In this discussion paper, I attempt to draw together the various strands of thought that show that we sometimes can and do act freely in spite of living in a deterministic world. Even more than this, I conclude that determinism and predictability is a necessary requirement for moral praise and blame. Please read my discussion paper, Free Will and Compatibilism, and share your thoughts.

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