satricion said:I mean...basically you're just assuming free will is true and using that to dismiss the impossibility of the conditions necessary for free will as irrelevant. None of your posts really argue for free will at all...you just take it as self evident.
Not quite.
I am saying that the arguments against free will (supporting determism indirectly) are false as they don't take accepted scientific theory into account.
The self-causation paradox is misconceived - relativity and the impermanence of the universe do not permit it. This misleads one to think free will is false.
The thought experiments 'revisiting a moment in time' are irrelevant, as they are not based in reality either - again, relativity doesn't permit it.
Finally, deterministic theory suggests conclusions that do not line up with everyday experience (I am not free to sponteneously choose and act).
Free will is true because:
(1) Conscious awareness exists and is self-evident in the waking state. This is clearly true, otherwise our senses and mind would be useless. Human life would be like deep sleep - disconnected from the world. It would be essentially pointless - like living alone forever in vast empty space.
(2) Free will stems directly from the self-evidence of consciousness - where free will is the exertion of consciousness to use the tools it's directly connected to - the body and mind.
(3) Conditioning and genetics limit one's range of free choice and action, but free choice and action happen within those limits. This applies to animals as well as humans.
(4) Fortunately we can overcome restrictions of free will due to conditioning under certain conditions - allowing the possibility of miracles. There is no space for miracles in determinism.
The other two options are false:
Determinism = false, as it fails to explain the whole picture. It attempts to explain human behavior 'outside-in' - ignorant of obvious inner processes.
probabilitistic theory = false, as humans don't act randomly (ie without a purpose) by default - they can though by choice.
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