oeksa t1_j9a7212 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 12:58 PM

Reply to comment by BlueSkyAndGoldenLite in Compatibilism is supported by deep intuitions about responsibility and control. It can also feel "obviously" wrong and absurd. Slavoj Žižek's commentary can help us navigate the intuitive standoff. by matthewharlow

this is kind of an impossible discussion. whether we call it determinism or compatibilism or guided voluntarism or whatever, logic says that no man or woman can think or act beyond the constraints of the laws of nature (which may include some randomness. however, randomness does not make you any more in control, it just means that your actions were not predetermined). freedom to act would require freedom not to act. not acting on a desire only proves that other desires or constraints were stronger. so your previous take is still right and compatible with both determinism, some variants of voluntarism, and compatibilism, depending on definitions of these terms.

BlueSkyAndGoldenLite t1_j9bfhj6 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 6:20 PM

Yeah, just mentioned it in another comment but my understanding, though limited of quantum mechanics just implies that the world can be probabilistic but that just shifts causality to be the result of luck/randomness.

I think this is definitely an argument that kind of just never ends until we come to a better understanding of neuroscience/physics. At the end of the day though it seems valuable to have arguments, define concepts, etc.