(July 1, 2013 at 7:30 pm)Koolay Wrote: I have always considered determinism to be completely irrational for the following reason:
If a determinist is trying to convince me to change my mind and accept determinism, then he or she is accepting that I have free will and can choose between accepting the two theories.
It's like someone talking to you, saying "you can't hear anything" - well if I can't hear then why are you talking to me? Doesn't that make you completely irrational?
It's as simple as that, to win a debate with a determinist you just need to let the determinist talk.
The only reason why I think determinists have this position is not because of logical effort, (A child can tell you that an animal is different from a rock.) But it's more than likely that determinismt believes this to avoid responsibility for their actions, and let's face it, that's very attractive to some people.
I've heard some good arguments against determinism - but this is not one of them. If I was a determinist, my view would be that you believe in free-will because you've been taught to do so or because you've accepted some incorrect premises that logically led you to conclude free-will or that you are made certain errors in logic that led you to incorrectly conclude free-will. My arguments, then, aim to provide the suitable corrective influence that would eventually and inevitably lead you to the correct conclusion of determinism.