Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    In the Mind there is no absolute, or free, will. — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    In the Mind there is no absolute, or free, will.

    Free Will & ForeknowledgeMoral Responsibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • The Mind is determined to will this or that by a cause that is also determined by another cause, and this again by another, and so to infinity.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.First-person deliberative experience reveals a sui generis causal capacity: the self-determining will, irreducible to third-person mechanical causation.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Kant's transcendental idealism demonstrates that noumenal agency operates outside the causal order Spinoza's infinite regress presupposes.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.If the regress argument proves too much—eliminating deliberation entirely—it refutes itself by undermining the rational inference Spinoza uses to establish it.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Agent causation, as defended by Roderick Chisholm, posits that persons initiate causal chains without being determined by prior sufficient causes.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Spinoza's argument assumes event causation is the only coherent causal model, but this assumption is a substantive metaphysical commitment, not a logical necessity.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityFree Will & Foreknowledge

    Connections

    1 topic

    Causation1 linked

    Related

    Agent causation, as defended by Roderick Chisholm, posits that persons initiate ...First-person deliberative experience reveals a sui generis causal capacity: the ...If the regress argument proves too much—eliminating deliberation entirely—it ref...Kant's transcendental idealism demonstrates that noumenal agency operates outsid...
    +2 moreShow less
    Spinoza's argument assumes event causation is the only coherent causal model, bu...The Mind is determined to will this or that by a cause that is also determined b...

    Similar

    A will that cannot exercise itself except under the Idea of its freedo...79%A free will must be physically and psychologically unforced in its ope...78%The will is the primary source of freedom in a human being.78%Having the will governed by such natural laws is inconsistent with the...77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: spinoza
    View source passageHide passage
    Spinoza engages in such a detailed analysis of the composition of the human being because it is essential to his goal of showing how the human being is a part of Nature, existing within the same deterministic causal nexuses as other extended and mental beings. This has serious ethical implications. First, it implies that a human being is not endowed with freedom, at least in the ordinary sense of that term. Because our minds and the events in our minds are simply ideas that exist within the caus
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit