Do you mean cause and effect as in a deterministic universe?
Not sure if this is what he meant, but one way to look at it is the Donnie Darko method: the only way to really have free will is if you can see or preempt the future. If everything down to the level of neurochemical reactions is a product of cause and affect, cause and affect, going all the way back to the beginning of time, then the only way to sidestep one's naturalistic destiny is to "see" the invisible path (or tunnel as it's visualized in Donnie Darko) ahead of you.I'm not sure I can even wrap my head around what that would mean.
I say yes, in as much as that kind of free will is acheivable, too.
Free will being denied by predeterminism and free will being denied by cause and effect are two different and mutualy exclusive things.
Yes!
What? I don't see how seeing the future has anything to do with free will.
I don't understand the Donnie Darko aspect (yes I've seen the movie), but this sounds like you're saying that the universe is deterministic and therefore free will cannot exist. Is that correct?Originally Posted by AlainWinthrope
If everything down to the level of neurochemical reactions is a product of cause and affect, cause and affect, going all the way back to the beginning of time, then the only way to sidestep one's naturalistic destiny is to "see" the invisible path (or tunnel as it's visualized in Donnie Darko) ahead of you.
The causes and effects in the chain are ultimately caused by the "first cause", but that doesn't mean they don't exist or should be ignored. They are still useful terms to describe steps in the chain.Originally Posted by Clueless Git
Free will being denied by predeterminism and free will being denied by cause and effect are two different and mutualy exclusive things.
Predeterminism actualy rules out cause and effect in the first place.
If all things are predetermined then all cause and effects are predertimined. I.e. nothing we 'cause' can have any 'effect' on a predertimined outcome.
In predeterimism is not the first cause always God(s)?