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Are you saying that in a deterministic state(not talking about beliefs here) one can say "the devil made me do it" and that's that? This concept of determinism sounds like the sprockets on the bicycle wheel, rolling on.

Are you saying that free will is a matter of choosing or choice? Did you choose to breathe air,enter into your family, nation, race, religion, clan,etc.

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Free will simply means that the human mind is free to make SOME choices. Obviously certain things are not up to us - that's not equivalent to determinism.


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t doesn't matter if we actually have the traditional conception (or any conception) of free will - that's my point. We should act as if we are 100% sure we do, however, because to do anything otherwise is a poor decision for the reaons mentioned.


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You're playing the "as if" game which states we cannot know of a matter(or anything in it's usual context) and therefore "act as if you know but really don't know". Very pragmatic(Dewey would be proud) but this offers nothing of the matter(free will or determinism). This is a get out of jail free card.

Since when does one worship before the alter of "free will" or "determinism" in everyday life. Does your mood of soul depend upon your belief in free will or determinism? What does "belief" have to do with it. It seems that to "believe" ina matter directly implies a diminished knowledge of that particular object.

carlo



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Not sure exactly what you're getting at here. Presumably, we don't know for sure whether or not the world is deterministic. My point is simply that leaning towards determinism is silly, and we should essentially not take it even as a possibility when deciding upon our actions.