Last time for me on this thread: I side with Colin (for once!). Just because someone knows what you are going to do does not mean that you had no choice in doing what you did. An example: You are at a stop sign. The cross street is a two way street. I am in a car behind you. I see your turn indicator flashing. I now predict that you are going to turn right. I claim psychic powers. You do turn right. Are you saying that you had no choice in turning right because I foresaw that? You had no choice? What if I am an all knowing God? Does it make any difference if I knew that you would turn right?
Ron LA ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "colin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 11:10 AM Subject: Re: Free will and determinism NJC | Colin, if you KNOW (as opposed to believe) that Kevin has come in an | eggcup, then it must be TRUE that Kevin has come in an eggcup, or | else you would only have (falsely) believed it, not known it. | | We can only KNOW what is TRUE. And if something is true in the | future, it is true always, and therefore true now. If the | proposition "Kevin will come in an eggcup on September 22 2010" is | true then, it is true now, and always was and always will be true. | | So -- if god or a psychic knows that I will do X in the future, it | must already be true that I will do X. | | And if it is true now that I will do X, it means it is true BEFORE I | DO IT. And THAT means, although I felt I had choice when faced with | the decision to do X, in fact I had no choice, and there was no | decision, just an illusion of one. | | A very logical conclusion, in fact. ;-) | | Sarah | | | | At 5:42 PM +0000 01/23/2003, colin wrote: | >[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: | >>But if god or the psychic KNOWS which choices we will pick, then | >>there is no longer any choice. | >> | | >Colin wrote: | >i don't think that is logical conclusion. | |
