dennisf@ihlpf.UUCP (09/02/83)
#R:teklabs:-238800:ihlpf:22600032: 0:1248 ihlpf!dap1 Sep 2 0:13:00 1983 Yes, I've thought about that possibility too. I agree with the conclusion but see little relevance with this definition of free will. A ball doesn't have what I call "free will" just because nobody bothers to determine its trajectory ahead of time. It's just as deterministic as clockwork. In the same way, I wouldn't claim that people had free will just because they didn't sit down and determine their own "trajectories" ahead of time. Over and above all the hoopla about determinism vs. non-determinism, I find it difficult to classify a kid born in a ghetto with an alcoholic father who murders the mother as a kid with a "free will", at least not free with respect to his environment. If that kid grows up to be a pimp, drug dealer, murderer or whatever, I claim that his environment had much more to do with that than his "free will". Why do some kids grow up in this environment and turn out to be presidents of philanthropical organizations? Because no two kids grow up in EXACTLY the same environment. Nonetheless, the statistics indicate that such a kid's behavior is not "outside the effects of causality". Darrell Plank BTL-IH