SPIRITUAL MONDAY!!
1. Is the concept of free will, and its role in the course of human events, tantamount to "playing dice with the universe? If so, what does this mean for the universe, and if not, how do we rectify this monkey-wrench into an otherwise controlled system?
posted by Pascals Bookie @ 12:20 PM
4 Comments:
See my discussion (in my second comment) of misapplying the scientific world-picture over on Optimates.
The term "playing dice with the universe" has to do with the profoundly odd implications of quantum theory. It seems to fly in the face of physical determinism as we understand it in tradtional reletivistic physics. However, I don't think physics has anything to do with the issue of free will. In fact, I think the issue of free will is completely moot. Either we are framing the question as a scientific one, in which case the answer is no, as far as newtonian physics is concerned. Perhaps you are referring to the idea that we might discover, with a better understanding of quantum physics, that conscious minds have some sort of existance as a pattern at the quantum level where things are not mechanically deterministic in the way that we generally understand our physical world to be. This may be the case, but either way, we would be talking about something physical. The other possibility is that we are asking a moral/ethical/philosophical question, in which case their is no answer because every useful discussion we might have in those areas is asked in a framework which presupposes free will. If you ask what someone ought to do in a given situation, you assume that the person has a choice of action, else concepts such as right and wrong have no meaning that we would recognize.
See discussion topic two for the day in regards to the exact question you are begging.
I'm sorry, that was kind of 'asshole' of me. I see what you're saying, but if you take Einstein's context away from the expression (for I'm not really trying to refute Einstein here) then the question still stands: Does God's" omnipotence imply complete control over his system (i.e. the Universe) and if so, doesn't free will, by definition outside of his control, render the entire system outside of his control?
Whoa. God? Where'd he come from? I was just talking about free will. If we don't think there is free will, then we are subscribing to the idea that every action is predetermined and is predictable given that we know the complete state of the universe at a given point in time. If that is how the universe works, (and we don't know for sure yet) then fine. It is still irrelevent to the sort of actual questions we deal with in politics, law, ethics, trade, etc. If it turns out that because of the way quantum physics works, it is never possible to predict with 100% certainty the future state of the universe, then that's fine too. In out every day discussions and interactions, we will still act and live as if we and those around us have free will.
I sense maybe you want to draw me into one of those silly "can God make a rock so big he can't lift it" discussions that were all the rage in the middle ages. No thanks, I'll pass, as I find them wholly irrelevant to either God or Free Will.
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