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Whether a belief in free will is or is not compatible with determinism is immaterial to my assertion that a belief in either is faith based, as there is no proof or falsification of either. And, as to your last statement, a belief in fatalistic determinism is dangerous to people's ability to...

The same is true of a belief in Free Will. The only difference between faith in a fatalistic determinism and faith in free will is that the latter feels consistent with reality and the former does not match our feelings. Believing in free will, however, places faith in the belief that our...

That is the point of a relatively famous parable about Zeno of Citium, the founder of Greek Stoicism. According to legend: Will Durant, “The History of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Great Philosophersof the Western World,” at 76 (1926) (First Simon & Schuster Paperback Ed. 2005).

I am not a criminal defense lawyer. I do represent both plaintiffs and defendants in civil disputes. As I previously posted, the legal precedents uniformly reject that defense, and there is no point is putting forth a losing argument simply because it makes sense. The law is about applying...

Exactly -- you "do not assert any such foundational premise." I do assert that premise for the sake of argument. And my point is that no amount of logic can refute or invalidate that premise -- just as you say that your hypothetical Flying Spaghetti Monster cannot be invalidated or refuted...

I think we have now said the same thing in different ways multiple times, and further back and forth is not worthwhile. No amount of logic can factually refute an assertion of any foundational premise. Logic can only be used to show that a foundational premise results in a self-contradiction...

The fact that someone has engineered a computer game that has the appearance of producing results that are not fatalistic (within the programming of the game) does not prove anything. Personally, I am skeptical of the assertion that the results of the game are not entirely deterministic in a...

Yes -- lawyer. And my prior post had a typo. I am a nearly 40-year litigator, not 4-year. It has been fund batting these issues back and forth with you. As to your other comment, I do view science, itself, as a philosophy -- as in the "philosophy of science." But, I do not view performing...

That makes sense. I have heard it said that an ordinary soldier sees a flat battlefield, while the masterful general sees a multi-contoured surface (or something like that). Seems like the same concept. As a lawyer, a nearly 4-year litigator in a specialized area of the law, I often see all...

I appreciate the post. My response is that the logical argument you are proffering is based on the foundational premise being that something will occur in the future, and not based on the foundational premise that something necessarily will occur tomorrow without the possibility of something...

The discussion in this thread reminds me why I switched my studies from pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree to a Bachelor of Arts degree in college. When I began college, I had thoughts of becoming a doctor. I signed up for multiple science-related classes in my freshman year, and I quickly...

I understand that you do not expect a response, but I thought I would respond anyway, because your question contains a demonstrably false premise. I am NOT a Buddhist. I do, however, respect Buddhism as a philosophy, and I have an affinity to some, but not all, of the teachings of Buddhism...

Nobody can possibly know what, if any, evidence could be adduced about the universe from outside the universe. Nobody can possibly know what it would be like to view the universe from outside the universe. Nor, for that matter , is there necessarily such a thing as "outside the universe" --...

All good on the full post from which I pulled your last statement. When I began reading the last sentence (quoted above), I thought you were going somewhere else: Stay Well

Steve, I previously provided my explanation of the claimed connection between Buddhism and determinism, along with citation to the Repetti article. It is post Number 1,133 in this thread, which is addressed to you and posted at 8:25 p.m. three days ago. You can read it at...

Still not sure I agree about there being a contradiction. The posited contradiction is that (i) the universe is, in fact, fatalistic, and (ii) a person within that fatalistic universe believes there is value in believing in a fatalistic universe. In a truly fatalistic universe, every seeming...

Do you believe that anything (including a principle, law of nature, concept, etc.) is true, unqualified, and absolute (other than the impossibility of something being true, unqualified, and absolute)? It seems to me that you do not have such a belief, but I could easily be mistaken. If you do...

Agree that there could be value in a belief in determinism, Jesus, and other philosophical or religious beliefs. Disagree that a belief in Radical Fatalism would be a contradiction if Radical Fatalism were true. It would not be a contradiction so much as a meaningless consequence of the...

Not arguing with anything you wrote. Just providing some citations to the scholarship you have requested. Repetti, R. ( 2012). Buddhist Hard Determinism: No Self, No Free Will, No Responsibility. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 19 (April 19, 2012), 130-97. Repetti is a Professor of Philosophy at...

As a practical matter, I agree with you. But this is a Philosophy forum -- as designated by the board heading. Occam's Razor is a pragmatic tool that is not a part of formal method of proof or falsification in logical, math, science or otherwise. It is like the medical aphorism "When you hear...