Me and my friend Dave were talking....
Offline Me and my friend Dave were taking a walk up by our local mall and just discussing philosophy, religion, etc. and we found another problem with Christianity!!!
I'm not that excited, I'm sure someone's realized this before., but anyways...
Somewhere in the Bible it says that humans are the only animals with free will, which is bullshit on so many levels (predetermination arguments, my dog chooses to piss, etc.) but one of the things I thought most people might not think about is the fact that you can't have, let's say a mouse and a human, in the same room together, and one having free will and the other not having free will, because they both interact with each other.
My problem is, is that I can't really explain this well, and I was wondering if someone could kind of reformat it for me so I could explain it to a Theist.
Thanks.
- Login to post comments
http://labnotes.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=602577
Figured that might be a little relevant to your discussion.
Go here if you would like to donate to help pay for server costs
Thanks for the article. Interesting stuff. Free Will and the book Being and Nothingness are the two things that have been driving me nuts lately... oh and Consciousness.
My favorites.
It seems to me, from what theology I have read, that free will in the Christian tradition (and in classical philosophy) has more to do with the ability to reflect on our actions rather than with the distinction between freedom and determinism. From this perspective, what would distinguish a human from other animals is the ability to think about our actions in relation to the past, present, and future, in relation to desires and the object desired, and so on. In short, it is the capacity of reason which is important in free will, not necessarily the idea of determinism. It has more to do with the way we choose, rather than the choice itself. Someone would probably respond to your objection along these lines.
"The will to revolutionary change emerges as an urge, as an 'I cannot do otherwise,' or it is worthless." --Slavoj Zizek