Sunday, March 18, 2018

The Determinist Question and Modern Science (Chapter 1.6)

Kane writes that the universal physical determinism of the “Laplacian or Newtonian vision” has been called into question by apparent indeterminism at the quantum level, even though a minority of physicists believe determinism prevails even at the quantum level.

Yet, even if quantum phenomena are undetermined, this doesn’t have to mean that more complex, higher level phenomena such as human will and behavior are undetermined too. What’s more, an undetermined or random choice would be no more freely or responsibly ours than a sudden muscle spasm that causes our arm to twitch. Finally, even if physical scientists are moving away from completely deterministic theories of physical phenomena, biological, psychological, and social scientists are moving toward more persuasive deterministic models of human choices and behavior.

But even if our behavior is determined, might we still have free will? Kane calls this the “Compatibility Question” that many modern thinkers answer in the affirmative. Chapter 2 addresses their compatibilist position.

No comments:

Post a Comment