(May 10, 2017 at 2:28 pm)Valyza1 Wrote:Oh oh, let me field this. YES! It would make all the "choices" you made in the past determined, because they are by definition fixed and unchangeable. If God is standing outside of time and looking at all of it as if it already happened, then it's fixed and unchangeable, and therefore determined. If it is determined, then you don't actually have a choice, just an illusion of one.(May 10, 2017 at 1:45 pm)Alasdair Ham Wrote: You said God knows the future and our actions and choices are predetermined. That means we're free to do what God predicts and ONLY what god predicts. That's one thing.
Suppose you had the ability to look back and watch your entire past in as much detail as you want, knowing you can't change it. Would that make all the multiple choices you made in the past any less free? That's all omnipotence means. To know all things and events. There's no restriction on freedom there to those who are making choices. I don't understand why people can't wrap their heads around this.
Quote:The only version of free will that is NOT in conflict with determinism is by definition: Compatabilism.
Which is a type of free will that no one doubts anyway. It's not a philosophical problem. It's a philosophical way of dodging a problem rather than dealing with it.
And it's a definition of free will that's so lax that it means we're free even though we can't do otherwise.
You can call that free however much you like... but you're basically just labelling normal willpower as "free will" rather than actually addressing the question.
Compatabilism is a godamn side-step.
So basically, what you are calling Free Will is the complete absence of Determinism, yes? If that's the case, then I agree with you. Free Will, by that definition, does not exist, because determinism does exist.
HOW an entity gains the ability to see predetermined events is irrelevant. If it's from "being outside of time and space", or through a magic spell that imparts all knowledge of the past and future, same difference. If the future can be seen and there aren't multiple choices in that future, then people are not making free choices, they are simply following the predetermined path that has already been seen, and only have the illusion of choosing/free-will.
Also, under what definition of free-will are you claiming that it does exist, then?
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
