Determinism

Active Discussions

cerebrumania commented on “Does Atheism (Determinism) Negatively Impact Morality?” (1)   October 2009

squezze commented on “Evolution Is Deterministic, Not Random, Biologists Conclude From…” (2)   February 2009

cerebrumania commented on “The Free Will/Determinism Paradox” (4)   April 2008

• kilstrit

  Or maybe it's just ironic

  Thursday evening

• kilstrit

  Maybe in the group description should be written: the illusion of free will

  Thursday morning

• Neue_regel_

  In fact my first post is more like Incompatibilistic world of view.

  May 2011

• Neue_regel_

  Check this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DeterminismXFreeWill.jpg Things might more complex than I thought. I've gotta check the determinism wiki article as well, my philosophical aspects on this subject are a bit Rusty at the moment.

  May 2011

• Neue_regel_

  This group's description is wrong. In fact having Free Will is the exact opposite of Determinism. In Determinism everything in the universe is considered pre-decided therefore there is no space for Free Will. This view totally defies Quantum Mechanics, ( the collapse of Schroedinger's equation or Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle)

  May 2011

• basnobua

  [troll food]The concept of emergent properties and human consciousness is all the rage amongst armchair science types and the intelligentsia, and thus free will from the perspective of neuroscience is very much en vogue. [/troll food]

  January 2011

• cerebrumania

  They can explain it better than me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism :)

  October 2010

• cerebrumania

  Sure it does, but it very much depends on your "Free Will" definition. If you define "Free Will" as being free to make a choice that is not constrained by forces like physical (like being hold by someone or something), social (rules of religion/society) limitations then you got free will. In other words, if you got the freedom to act according to your own will - that's free will. But it doesn't mean that you have the ability to choose your own will which is determined (like everything else) by past events combined with nature's laws - determinism.

  October 2010

• cedrusewigkeit

  The group description makes no sense at all. wtf?

  July 2010

• Shro0my0

  lesswrong.com

  June 2010

• jambolini

  free will, destiny and meaning are all illusions

  February 2010

• cerebrumania

  Randomness/chance is not deterministic by definition, and what is "everything else"? I do tend to think that what science see as chance is actually deterministic.

  December 2009

• cerebrumania

  I think that practically you are wrong.

  September 2009

• becker_90

  I think cookies are windows.

  July 2009

• basnobua

  any contemporary compatibilism arguments, or any good books on the subject, that someone could share? The idea seems so illogical to me.

  June 2009

• cerebrumania

  Welcome Veladorn, it's very unavoidable of you to join this group.. :D

  April 2009

• RealMenEatCorn

  lacking a red thread there... but i hope u get my point.

  January 2009

• RealMenEatCorn

  the "laws of nature" are merely empirically deduced by us; they are not necessarily absolute. it could actually be that they are in fact affected by the deterministic course of events in the universe and thus are a part of it. the illusion of something being truly random or chancy can simply be the emergent output of a complex system of chain reactions, i.e. it is deterministic but due to our relatively simple minds we are rendered unable to see its pathway. as long as science relies on empiricism we can never really prove anything. unfortunately it will probably never be possible to do it in some other way.

  January 2009

• mlansman

  Determinism is far from obvious or self evident. Determinism is a dual doctrine: (i) that for any state of the universe at a particular time there is only one possible next state of the universe. (ii) that for any state of the universe at a particular time there is only one possible previous state of the universe. Jointly, these imply that (iii) for any state of the universe at a particular time the entire history of the universe is entirely determined. It could easily be that the fundemental laws of nature do not obey these conditions and thus the universe is non deterministic, i.e. determinism is not necessary, and thus the question of whether or not the universe is deterministic can reasonable be said to be in the province of science. Many quantum physicists think that quantum mechanics is chancy and so it is entirely reasonable to deny determinism. Response?

  January 2009

• Metalhand

  Yeah :D

  January 2009