Thoughts on Free Will, part 4
Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

Thoughts on Free Will, part 4

Last week I argued that the materialistic theory of decision-making – that we don’t have control over the factors that lead to decisions – suggests that we don’t have free will. A problem with this argument is that it is circular.
 
If we assert that forces over which we have no control – such as our inherited predilections, our past experiences, and our cultural biases – dictate how we make decisions, then it logically follows that we don’t have free will. The conclusion derives from the premise, and that’s a circular argument. The important question is whether some other factors over which we might have control have roles in our decisions.
 
Some people assert that humans have a “soul” that, among other things, gives us agency, i.e., gives us the capability to make individual decisions with free will. I will consider this theory next essay.

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Go on to: Thoughts on Free Will, part 5
Return to: Reflection on the Lectionary, Table of Contents

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