RE: Free Will is a sign if God's inescapable weakness
November 20, 2017 at 2:20 pm
(This post was last modified: November 20, 2017 at 2:30 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
Belief in the delusion of agent causation can only cause harm. Believing we are as responsible as we in fact are is helpful, believing we are absolutely ultimately super-responsible when we are not cannot be helpful. Punishing someone proportionally to their wrongdoing to deter them from causing further harm is helpful, punishing someone barbarically and excessively "Because the bastard deserves it" cannot be helpful.
The problem with the delusion of free will is even if people who don't believe they have free will use that as an excuse to misbehave, it doesn't change the fact that they still really didn't ultimately cause their own behavior nor did they cause their loss of belief in the delusion of free will, or even the fact that they used that as an excuse. Even if a belief in a delusion has good consequences that's an empty point when you don't even choose to believe or not believe in that delusion. The funniest thing about the quote by the comedian Emo Philips where he says "I’m not a fatalist, but even if I were what could I do about it?" is that there's some truth behind that irony.
The problem with the delusion of free will is even if people who don't believe they have free will use that as an excuse to misbehave, it doesn't change the fact that they still really didn't ultimately cause their own behavior nor did they cause their loss of belief in the delusion of free will, or even the fact that they used that as an excuse. Even if a belief in a delusion has good consequences that's an empty point when you don't even choose to believe or not believe in that delusion. The funniest thing about the quote by the comedian Emo Philips where he says "I’m not a fatalist, but even if I were what could I do about it?" is that there's some truth behind that irony.
