Questions About How Free Are You?: The Determinism Problem

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what are the problems Determinism poses to freedom?

Ville Kokko Not having read this specific book yet, I'd answer like this...

Determinism implies that the way the world was in the past already causes everything th…moreNot having read this specific book yet, I'd answer like this...

Determinism implies that the way the world was in the past already causes everything that happens now, including any choice you make that's presumed to be free. If you think about that, you may well get the feeling that, whoa, how am I myself making any difference in what happens, even when what happens is something I do, when things outside me in the past already made sure it would happen?

Determinism also implies that when you make a choice, there's really only one way you may choose, considering the exact state of the world at that moment. Contemplating this may also give you the feeling that, whoa, I'm not actually free to choose here.

Note that these aren't really problems determinism poses for freedom, just ways it may feel that it does. I don't think it really does. (I DO get these feelings myself, so this is not about my having different intuitions than people who think there's a problem.) Some specific forms of determinism, like genetic determinism or being determined to act by a compulsive addiction, could be problems, although that's assuming they even exist. But if you want your choices and acts to make any sense, you'll want them to be determined by your internal processes reacting intelligently to the situation in the outside world - you don't want them to be undetermined and random any more than you want them to be compulsive.(less)

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