RE: Free will & the Conservation Laws
March 1, 2016 at 2:58 am
(This post was last modified: March 1, 2016 at 2:59 am by Alex K.)
(March 1, 2016 at 1:31 am)ChadWooters Wrote:(February 28, 2016 at 2:38 pm)Jehanne Wrote: I am a materialist and do not believe that humans, non-human animals, plants, etc., have souls, spirits or any other "non-material" substance. If the Conservation Laws of Nature (Energy, Momentum, Angular Momentum, etc.) are immutable and without exception, then is not human (or animal) free will an illusion? Granted that the brain is irreducibly complex, but given enough hypothetical (infinite?) computing power, is not the entire Universe deterministic? Hence, free will is an illusion?If the physical universe is causally closed, then you are most likely correct. There is, however, no scientific way to determine whether it is or is not causally closed.
Hard determinism is a lot like solipsism. The logic seems irrefutable but no one truly believes in it for themselves.
The conclusion may be correct, but the argument from conservation laws isn't. Nature can in principle have a undetermined "choice" between two possiblities which both conserve energy etc.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
