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