[Avodah] Free Will vs. Physics

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 04:40:45PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: > Now, back to free will... Perhaps the problem is simply a
: > false dichotomy: we're asserting that the ability to make
: > that first decision is either determined entirely by
: > previous causes or part of it is random. Are they really
: > antonyms?

: I agree. Of course, previous experiences *are* a big factor in the
: current choice, but that's not the entirety of it. There is something
: more. It *appears* to be random, but that's because it's not part of
: our physical universe, and not even in our ability to comprehend.

It's a harder problem than that. Again, I don't see nature in the
discussion, anything about physicality, and therefore anything about
our inability to fathom the non-physical. (Which blindness I would
question anyway.)

We can't conceive of something that isn't random, and yet not fully
explainable by outside causes. Regardless of how cause is mediated to
effect whether it's nature, laws of higher olamos, psychology, etc... the
same question stands. It seems to be inherent in the definition of cause
and random -- if it has a reason, it's caused, if it didn't it's random.
Neither provide a basis for human accountability.

Internal causes had to have a start, which if you apply iteratively you
eventually have to get them back to external causes; how the person
was made, what he experienced. Nor can we say that people's freedom
within those external causes is random, dice aren't accountable for how
they land.

But this notion of chasing the caausal chain back made me think of
rishonim discussing the First Cause. A person isn't the First Cause. We
are only in His image. There is no parallel to Absolute Unity and
Timelessness, the elements of the answer to why the Creator Himself
doesn't require a creator to explain His existence.

To rephrase: If we can explain people's decisionmaking, then as some
point the explanation is grounded outside the person. They were made that
way. They were shaped that way by experience. (Or by decisions that in
turn must be traced back to that first decision.)

If there is no explanation, then it's a coin toss which explanation we
accept, and there is still no accountability.

Perhaps the answer must start with assuming that souls are lemaalah
min hazeman, or at least some aspect of them is. In which case, the
whole chasing of explanations goes way outside the comprehensible.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
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