Posts Tagged with Philosophy

A World of Difference

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Hey terrans, I've got something on my mind, so pardon the abruptness. I'm going to get right into that “Human Freedom” book I've been reading.

Something about it bothers me. The guy starts his historical survey with that Augustine guy, and actually, I get it. Really I do. It makes sense. Da big Au-G. He seems like something of a bridge in your world, right? a human segue from classic thought to that of his ages and then to thought of ages to come. Maybe landmark is better analogy? referring back to all the antecedent thought he drew upon? something of a culmination? Eh. Maybe that's too far. Either way, I get it, but I'm disappointed (to no fault of the author!). I'll explain.

The debate on human freedom is very different on my world. (My original world, I should say. There have been a few.) There, this freedom talk or free-will talk was all about our paths, our yet-to-be histories. It was about whether a person was free or bound to their path. 

Here, on Terra/Earth/whatever, freedom is more thought of in terms of the ability to will (whether to operate apart from external determination or just without interference or something like that). That simply IS freedom. There, people did make similar points, say, about prior material conditions determining their every step, but that wasn't the bondage, itself. It was an excuse, a way of claiming they were bound to their bad path.

So, in my world, human freedom talk is more course than causation. The point is, I was hoping maybe your ancients had contributions to that conversation as well. I guess I’ll have to wait and see, Right now, it's time to cram. and get some things done before it's time for that Monday Masto-Mac-n-Cheese.

– Pen

Free Willie

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Hey terrans. I have a problem. I picked me up a book there recently, and now it won’t go away. The little stow-away is Human Freedom: [insert the rest of an impressively long title that thinks it’s published in 1821] by Dr. Timothy A. Stratton.* I think it's mad that I haven’t gotten to it, so it's waiting patiently, asserting itself by taking up space among my effects. (Pushy little bugger, ain't it?) I do have other things to do, but for some reason, I can’t shelve this book until I finish it. So, I'm thinking… some variety, something besides the conservative thought, ya know it could be nice. And this book seems to be the book on its subject right now. Lucky me, it's also interesting, so yep, I’m a few chapters deep.

It’s organized fairly well. After the prolegomena, it starts with relevant bible passages, acknowledging their diverse interpretations as understandable if not always accurate. Then, it goes onto the phase of gleaning from the greats of yore, and Stratton makes an efficient move here. Rather than comb for the insights directly, he goes for the gold via big-name free-will thinkers. IT makes sense. To sift and sort out the best insights directly, that might be closer to a life-long project. I bet almost every thinker of every kind has thought about freewill. So, Stratton starts with the proximity of fellows like Augustine, Pelagius, Aquinas, Erasmus, Martin Luther, Calvin, Arminius, and Edwards. I’m on Augustine right now, and it is pretty interesting.

After his big historical phase, Stratton waxes philosophical and theological, perhaps processing his thoughts along with theirs and coming up with… well I guess we’ll see. Next comes the secret sauce. He seems to build upon his results by repeating the process on a smaller level (with just Luis de Molina) and then processing the insights gleaned there. Finally, he closes with a note on the significance of his conclusion.

The book seems worth the read for the historical survey alone. (Readers will know I'm trying to learn more Terran lore.) But, there’s also the molinism thing. That is a huge plus. I am continually surprised when people with strong opinions on matters of free-will have never (or barely) heard of it. So, in short, I recommend the book (so far).

That's all for now. All the best.

– Pen

P.S. *Frankly, if it weren't a Terran book, I'd likely fault it for excluding elves and dwarves and all, but one has to be understanding about these things. Perhaps we could posit a hypothetical person of non-specific species, one yet of the general sentience supposed as being a subject of free-will in any of them. We could call him Willie. 🙂

Astra inclinant, sed non obligant

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The stars incline us. They do not bind us.
Anonymous, Some bathroom wall

Hello again. I lead with the quote to sound smart… and because I like it. It really nails the free-will debate for me. Most people know what free-will is. They don’t walk around with a definition in hand, but they have a vague idea. The opposite problem plagues the academics. They are ready with the definitions, but they're just very very wrong ones.

By free-will, I mean the kernel of that old chestnut where a person’s decisions are determined by themselves, so-called libertarian free-will (LFW). I have started a working collection of definitions for LFW, but I also think this quote helps. or at least it is interesting: 

“If I believe that something not identical to myself was the cause of my behavior—some event wholly external to myself, for instance, or even one internal to myself, such as a nerve impulse, volition, or whatnot—then I cannot regard the behavior as being an act of mine, unless I further believed that I was the cause of that external or internal event”

(Richard Taylor, quoted here)

Belief in LFW seems to be right, important, and healthy. A man just has to believe in things like that. Other examples might be love, justice, right, wrong, and virtue; and this remains even should the evidence at hand ever be neutral. These beliefs are part of being human, of being a good man. Having them is healthy and denying them isn’t. Now I am not advocating believing against reason. These truths are often known immediately, innately, and… anyway I'm rambling.

It just seems strange when some people bring up objections to LFW involving God! (Yes, I saw it happened recently, and I got a little worked up.) More on all this the next time I bring up LFW. For now, it’s time for some rest.

That lucky cut-out of mine never gets tired or sick! That could make a person jealous, but at least I'm free.

That's all for now.

– Pen