Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Free WIll is Indetermined Behavior

Philosopher Ned Block argues:
Determinism ... Indeterminism, though, is just as bad because if you do something by chance, that doesn't mean it is done by you freely. This is a point made many years ago. It looks like both determinism and indeterminism are incompatible with free will, which shows there is something wrong with the concept.
Yes, the argument has been made many times, and it is nonsense.

Saying that someone's choices are indetermined is essentially the same as saying that he is free to make a choice.

If you can predict my choice, then it is apparently determined by past events. But if I make a free choice, then you cannot predict it, and it seems like random chance.

His argument is like saying electrons do not exist. An electron is a charged particle, so its charge must be positive or negative. If the charge is positive, then it is not an electron. A negative charge is just as bad, because then it would be a negative charge carrier, instead of an electron.

The argument does not say anything.

It is amazing how many philosophers and other scholar swallow this nonsense argument.

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