Cris C. Wrote: I said:
What experience could *rationally* persuade a person that indeterministic free will exists?
Silk here: I would staunchily suggest not to take anything
from anyone as gospel but to occasionally leave "study
behind" & to spend some time pondering that which you have studied! Study is ok however it is meaningless data
unless it is "PONDERED" & one says "ok this is what I PERSONALLY believe from what I have observed & been told! A reasonable philosophy should be like a
mosaic consisting of "a little of this & a little of that" from
a "variety" of sources else it is not a philosophy but a thing of brainwashing, the province of the shallow minded sheep!
Although all is rigedly fixed, it is fixed in such a way which "appears" to allow for a vague, minute degree or definite type of latitude & this latitude most resolute! Sort of like a dog chained to a pole, it can roam around to some extent however its miniscule domain is specific & thus set! This scenario can but infer that while certain "set" options are possible others are not. It is this fixed "liberty" which many confuse with free will. I must contend that various alternatives & choices "might" be open if only certain ones. I believe there "might" be some latitude in a beings life & that being may be given, say, five choices & it's most "probable" that it's been predetermined which choice he/she will make but never-the-less they're given a choice, if you choose to call it that. Lets assume for the sake of argument that someone knows you better than you know yourself & that someone rounds up five members of the opposite sex, all relatively good looking & charming however different as day & night. I staunchly believe it can be ascertained beforehand, prior to your ever having layed eyes or ears upon them, which one, above the others, will capture your fancy! This once again is what is confused with free will. Free in a limited fashion as the possibilities are fixed & in certain situations one has a choice between two evils & must choose between the lesser of them but how does one know why or even what makes them choose what they do? They might choose to believe that they reasoned it out but then again why do they then reason the "only" one way that they do? Six of one, half a dozen of another & wolfs howl at the moon? Just ask yourself this: we are told that this universe is approximately 15 billion years old! We are further lead to believe that this planet (earth) is 4 & 1/2 billion years & that homo sapiens say are at least a couple of hundred thousand years old. Now we've got some of these homo sapiens who've been alive for say + or - 50 measly years & them alluding to the fact that they know whats what! I ask you is this not arrogance & ignorance all wrapped up in its best dress! Be honest! + or - 50 years, its ludicrous for them to even suppose that they've a free will, but they do????????The cog laboring under the delusion that it is the wheel! man, often in error seldom in doubt. Realize that the past & the future are real illusions, that they only exist in the present, which is what there is & all there is if that!!!!!! One mans food is another mans poison. What exactly pre-destination has up its sleeve for you is unique. We're heading for a place thats so far away the place is tomorrow, the road is today. Each & every individual has their own distinct "road map". What does or doesn't work for another has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with you & vice versa. Each "being" is a "one man show". One is much better off in every way, shape & form the sooner they reconcile themself to this iron law of "god." If the sun & all of its temporary magnificence denies none its light & warmth & if the water & air whose life sustaining properties are second to none refuses not of themselves for the quenching of thirsts then who the hell are we to withhold bread! And the cries of the starving children fall on deaf ears! Man is not the web of life he is but a strand in it & everything he does to the web he does to himself. Nothing can grow out of bounds with all the things upon which it depends & this being the strongest argument for the fact that you are your "brothers keeper".
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