Feb 23, 2007

On Causality, Free Will, And The Existence of God.

I wrote the following essay over the last 2 hours or so, for admission to a debate forum. I hope you find it interesting.

-Josh

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I believe that, without an omnipotent creative force known to us as 'God', there can be no free will.

I have heard touted countless times, the moralistic atheist argument that the existence of God automatically throws out any possibility of such a thing as free will in living creatures. I believe this to be false, and will focus on why at the second half of this essay. For now, I shall concentrate upon the deterministic argument.

1. Every event has a cause.
2. Human thought is an event.
3. Therefore, human thought is merely an effect, brought about due to some kind of cause.

At the beginning of the universe, there was an 'initial' set of 'conditions'. This was at the very beginning, mind- precisely zero time had elapsed between the universe coming to exist and the current moment.
These conditions had a truly massive amount of variables. Here are a few:

1. The mass of individual particles
2. The positioning of individual particles
3. The chemical and physical properties of individual particles
4. The orientation, speed, and acceleration of individual particles.
5. The gravitational constant.
6. The Weak and Strong nuclear constants.
7. The electromagnetic constant.

Everything has a cause. Something so basic as a basketball, for example, cannot act 'of its own volition'. Assume for this hypothetical situation, that the ball has just bounced off of a concrete sidewalk. This is an event, which we can trace back to a set of hypothetical conditions.

1. The basketball has been dropped from a height, and therefore accelerates towards the earth.
2. The basketball is constructed of an elastic material.
3. Therefore, the basketball bounces when it impacts the concrete.

Suppose we can trace it back further. Allow me to construct a hypothetical chain of logical events.

-Johnny dropped the basketball.
-Johnny was practicing his basketball skills.
-A boy named Johnny purchased the ball from a nearby sports store.
-The sports store purchased a shipment of basketballs from a factory.
-A sports factory in Minnesota produces several shipments of basketballs.
-A sports factory in Minnesota imports a large quantity of rubber from Brazil.
-Some rubber was harvested and processed in Brazil
-Rubber trees grow in Brazil
-The soil and other conditions in Brazil were favorable for rubber trees to grow.
-Minerals favorable for rubber trees collected in the Brazil area.
-The Earth was formed due to the effects of gravity.
-Nebular gases collected and swirled around the Sun.
-Gases were ejected from the the origin of the universe at incredible speeds.
-The universe came into existence.

Instead of following the chain of events leading to the creation of the ball, one could likewise follow the chain of events leading to the creation of Johnny. You would come to the same place- the origin of the universe.

You could trace any event on this planet, or in the universe, back to the origin of the universe through an infinite series of cause-and-effect events. These events are all intertwined, as every single event has an effect on an infinite number of other events- creating a 'web', if you will; of events that reaches throughout all three dimensions and Time.

A popular argument which may, at first glance, deflate one's enthusiasm for the deterministic viewpoint, stems from quantum physics.
Namely, the fact that in the subatomic world, particles move seemingly at random. In addition to this, there are mathematical equations which support the existence of 'virtual particles'- tiny matter and antimatter pairs of particles which spring into existence and suddenly annhilate each other. These particles may, in fact, have a direct impact on our minds and therefore our 'wills'.

I think it makes little difference, one way or the other. Firstly- I don't see how anything can be truly random. Probability (as a force, of sorts) most likely does not exist- it's merely a human notion stemming from Chaos Theory. Secondly, who's rolling the dice?
Finally, 'random will' does not equate to 'free will'.

So, I believe that there can be no free will without God.

This argument presupposes that the universe had a beginning, and is not infinitely existing. That is, however, a different topic for a different time.

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Now, what if such a thing as 'God' should exist? Can there be free will in that scenario?

I believe so.
For the sake of argument, I shall be assuming the existence of the Christian God.

My argument in this scenario can be simply put as follows:

1. God created the universe.
2. God is therefore outside the universe by nature. Except, naturally, for the occasional act of will. A man can enter and exit a house that he built at will.
3. God can therefore bring events into the universe from without, and vice versa. Likewise, a man can move his furniture into and out of his household.
4. Human thought is an event.
5. It is conceivable, therefore, that human thought (and the 'soul') is outside of the universe; and can act of its own volition.

Remember that, for this scenario, we are presupposing the existence of God- that is, therefore; not in question.

The primary objection which atheists and even theists produce towards this is as follows:

1. God can see an infinite distance into the future.
2. God sees each of our acts and choices before it occurs.
3. Therefore, there is no free will.

To this, I offer several objections.

- The conclusion doesn't logically follow from the (presupposed) facts. God observing an act doesn't make it any less one's own act.
- It is entirely plausible that such a God would voluntarily limit His divine attributes in this regard. There is a precedent, set by the 'Incarnation'.
- Due to God being outside of the universe; and therefore time time, there is no reason for reverse causality not to come into play.

Reverse causality (in this context) is a purely philisophical concept. Simply put:

1: I cough.
2: God therefore sees that cough all the way back throughought eternity.

While this seems odd, take a look at the alternative notion:

1. God sees me cough at a specific point in time.
2. Therefore, I cough.

Physicists are beginning to believe that time is not linear. Time travel may be plausible, if not possible with our technology. It has been conclusively proven that time is, at the very least, 'bendable'. It does not proceed at the same rate at every location. If we, as humans, are aware of this unique property of time, why may we restrict God to a linear timeline?

How, and why, should an act of observation be the root cause of an act of will? I think that it cannot. A crude analogy would be that of a boy coming home from school. He knows that his dog will come running to the gate to greet him upon his arrival.

The dog does so.

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In summary, I believe that there can be no such thing as 'free will' in the absence of God. Thank you for your time.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There's a blog that referenced your post on Free will and the existence of God. He had some pretty disparaging things to say about your reasoning:

http://mirkgard.blogspot.com/2007/02/free-will-vs-god.html