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re: Philosophy: Do you believe in a deterministic or indeterministic universe?

Posted on 2/24/15 at 9:02 pm to
Posted by rbWarEagle
Member since Nov 2009
49999 posts
Posted on 2/24/15 at 9:02 pm to
quote:

intellect is a part of our decisions making. Yes genetics, environment, upbringing have an impact, but our intellect can help us reason what actions are the best.



There are a lot of issues here, but I'm going to try and unpack some of them. Your intellect is constrained by your DNA, for one. Some people have better reasoning powers than others. Consider Stephen Hawking vs. Kim Peek. Does Stephen Hawking has more "free will" than Kim Peek?

quote:

Again the train analogy. A train is moving towards an end, that end is predetermined but those in the train are free to choose what to do, while their destination is set.



Again, this is a form of indeterminism.

quote:

There are some things that are determined for us, where we are born, what our upbringing, gender, hair color, etc. but there are other things that are not determined, what food we eat, when we wake up, who we date, etc.


But those things are determined by our subconscious mental processes by electrochemical processes that you have no control over. For instance, when you wake up in the morning and crave a glass of water... is it because you love the delicious taste or is it because your body is dehydrated and your brain is motivating you to drink it?

quote:

But I have a choice to do many things in life. Free will is obviously present in the human experience.


Choice doesn't matter, choice exists regardless of whether or not free will exists. This absence of free will happens at a deeper level than choice. There is a neural process that underlies every thought you have (which is spurred by the electrochemical events, well below your level of conscious awareness) in response to your environment.

quote:

Man doesn't have an instinct to fast, but plenty of people do it.



No, but the universe is such that man fasts.

quote:

Your reason guides you to this.


Your reason is brought about but subconscious neural processes that you do not control.

*Edit: Sorry for any grammatical errors, I'm listening to someone speak to me on the phone.
This post was edited on 2/24/15 at 9:04 pm
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