RE: Free will
May 21, 2016 at 3:21 pm
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2016 at 3:56 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
The question is not whether prior knowledge changes the process. The question is whether or not free will is coherent with foreknowledge.
By framing your response in this way you have assumed that free will exists as a process to be "changed" and are arguing against the notion that foreknowledge exerts a force capable of changing or constraining free will. I don't know if it does..and I've made no claim that it does. This is why it's pointless to respond in such a way. Which is exactly what I told you last time.
If foreknowledge is possible, the future is set. If a claim to foreknowledge is true, there is no a or b. There is only a, or only b..whichever is described by the foreknowledge. These statements -must- be true for the claim of foreknowledge to be true. If they are not true, then the claim of foreknowledge is not true.
To use your incredibly imprecise (and therefore highly suspect) language....if some being, let's call him "God"..... "sees" me "freely willing" a........is there -any- circumstance in which I could make a liar of him, make him wrong....and "freely will" b instead?
By framing your response in this way you have assumed that free will exists as a process to be "changed" and are arguing against the notion that foreknowledge exerts a force capable of changing or constraining free will. I don't know if it does..and I've made no claim that it does. This is why it's pointless to respond in such a way. Which is exactly what I told you last time.
If foreknowledge is possible, the future is set. If a claim to foreknowledge is true, there is no a or b. There is only a, or only b..whichever is described by the foreknowledge. These statements -must- be true for the claim of foreknowledge to be true. If they are not true, then the claim of foreknowledge is not true.
To use your incredibly imprecise (and therefore highly suspect) language....if some being, let's call him "God"..... "sees" me "freely willing" a........is there -any- circumstance in which I could make a liar of him, make him wrong....and "freely will" b instead?
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!