“Free Will vs. Determinism” – Do We Need a Better Label?

 determinism, free will, incompatibiism, indeterminism  6 Responses »
Jun 222015
 

free-will-vs-determinismThe free will debate is almost always classified/labeled as a debate between “free will vs. determinism”. This confuses many into thinking that if determinism is incompatible with free will (which it is), people just need to show that determinism isn’t necessarily the case and automatically the possibility for free will opens up. In other words, when someone argues against free will, so many people will revert to the idea that perhaps the universe isn’t deterministic, the negation of such becoming their free will savior. The idea that indeterminism can help grant free will is, in philosophical circles, called libertarian free will (not to be confused with the economic/politic position). Continue reading »

10 Reasons Why People Can’t Let Go of Their Free Will Belief

 determinism, free will, free will illusion  4 Responses »
May 282015
 

10 reasons people can't let go of free will beliefThis week I’d like to focus on 10 reasons why people find it difficult to let go of their belief in free will (as defined here), even when given the evidence against it. There are many factors involved, so as always, this is just a brief list from the many possibilities. Some may apply to some people, others may apply to other people, but there is usually a good mix of these that make it hard for people to give up their free will belief.

So what’s one to do about this? It depends, but persistence seems to be one key in combating these reasons. And with that, on to the 10 reasons why people can’t let go of their free will belief: Continue reading »

10 Benefits of Not Believing in Free Will

 determinism, free will  15 Responses »
May 132015
 

10-benefits-of-no-free-willIn this article I want to focus, in the general sense, on 10 of the many benefits of not believing in free will as defined here, if one understands the reasons behind why it doesn’t exist and what such implies. You’ll notice that many of the below benefits interconnect with each other.

So here we go…

10 Benefits of NOT Believing in Free Will Continue reading »

Determinisme vs. Fatalisme InfoGraphic (DUTCH)

 determinism, infographic  Comments Off on Determinisme vs. Fatalisme InfoGraphic (DUTCH)
Apr 292015
 

Emile at kritischdenken.info asked me a while back to create a Dutch version of my Determinism vs. Fatalism infographic so she could use for her site focused on Dutch speaking skeptics, but it seems she never ended up using it. I don’t want a translated version to go to waste so I’m placing it here on my website. Click here for the original English version: Determinism vs. Fatalism – InfoGraphic (a comparison)

DETERMINISME-VS-FATALISME-infographic-DUTCH

 

Continue reading »

Unpredictable Future ≠ Freely Willed Future

 determinism, free will  3 Responses »
Mar 252015
 

unpredictable freewill

A common misconception surrounding the free will debate is the idea that if we can’t predict the future, that free will somehow resides or has the possibility of residing in the fact that we can’t know such. That somehow our lack of being able to know all of the variables is the savior of free will.

This misconception is often grounded by the ways words such as “determinism” are not used for the free will debate. People tend to look at such words and assume what is being suggested by the word is that “we” can determine what we will do in the future. And when they hear about things such as the uncertainty principle, or about a measurement problem (there are different ones), or even chaos theory, they note that we can’t “determine” the future in any absolute way, and so (they believe) such “determinism” doesn’t apply. Continue reading »

Otherwise a Causal Contradiction

 determinism, free will, incompatibiism, quantum mechanics  2 Responses »
Mar 192015
 

otherwise-contradiction
It’s surprising how many people try to suggest that we could have done otherwise (sometimes abbreviated as CHDO online) in an entirely causal (deterministic) universe, when discussing the free will debate. And it’s always surprising how many people don’t recognize the contradiction of such. In my book I point this out with numerous demonstrations, but for this article I just want to get to the vegan-meat and potatoes. First let’s address what we mean by “could have done otherwise”. This statement is not an “after the fact” statement, as obviously once something has been done that is the thing that was done. We are addressing that if we were to somehow bring the moment back to before the decision or action, that such a decision or action doesn’t have to take the same path (it could lead elsewhere). So let’s get into the contradictory nature of such an idea. Continue reading »

Dennett’s “Free Will” vs a Free Will Not Worth Wanting

 determinism  12 Responses »
Mar 122015
 

dennett_jump
Daniel Dennett, author of Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting and  Freedom Evolves, is a philosopher that is considered a free will “compatibilist”. What this means is that Dennett accepts that the universe is deterministic or that even if there was indeterminism, this wouldn’t help free will such as what libertarians think (different than political libertarians) – but at the same time he thinks free will is compatible with determinism.

On the other hand, hard determinists and hard incompatibilists such as myself think that free will is not compatible with determinism (nor indeterminism).

So obviously one of us must be wrong…right? Well yes and no. The first thing that needs to be addressed is if we are both on the same page in regards to the term “free will”. As it turns out, Dennett’s “Free Will” is not the free will of concern for the hard determinist or hard incompatibilist. Continue reading »

Existence Conflated with Knowledge and the Free Will Debate

 determinism, free will, indeterminism  3 Responses »
Feb 262015
 

ontology-epistemology-conflationA common occurrence that happens in the free will debate is the conflation between what “is” or what “exists” with what we can or cannot “know”. In philosophical terms such is the conflation between an ontic understanding and an epistemic understanding. In case the philosophical terms arise in a discussion, all you really need to know is that ontology is the study of what exists, is real, or the nature and properties of “being”, while epistemology is the study of what we can know and how we can know things. In philosophy these words are very broad fields of study. For example, ones epistemological standard (standard of knowledge) might play into their ontological understandings (what they think exists or doesn’t exist).

If you are unfamiliar with the philosophical jargon, don’t be too concerned. For the free will debate, just know that one addresses existence claims and the other addresses knowledge claims. And the distinction between these two things are of great importance. Continue reading »

Brain Noise Being Labeled as Free Will? Not So Fast!

 determinism, free will, incompatibiism  5 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

brain_noise

According to a study from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, random fluctuations in the brain’s “background electrical noise” might have a say in our decisions. An article on the ucdavis.edu website suggests that this could possibly be labeled “free will“. In other words, it opens the free will door.

Take a look at the article here:
Does ‘free will’ stem from brain noise?

The article is brief, but has some conclusions that simply do no follow from what is explained in the study. It first says this, in order to prep you for the really bad thinking to come:

“How do we behave independently of cause and effect?” said Jesse Bengson, a postdoctoral researcher at the center and first author on the paper. “This shows how arbitrary states in the brain can influence apparently voluntary decisions.”

Continue reading »