If We Don't Have Free Will, What Should We Do?
The question is obviously ironic. What does should or ought mean if our actions are determined? Should presupposes the ability to deliberate and decide. But without a will -- the term free will is redundant -- how could we make decisions? I've heard social scientists say something like this: since there is no free will, we ought to rethink the criminal justice system. We ought ? What does that mean if the premise is that the will is a delusion? The reason I bring this up is that many atheists seem wary about free will. I think I can explain this wariness. Since atheists properly deny the existence of soul, or spirit, they think they're committed to what seems the only remaining alternative: materialist reductionism. They reject "the ghost in the machine" and embrace the machine alone. But they've thrown the will/mind baby out with the soul/spirit bathwater. I wrote this post, and you are reading it. Think of what those facts imply. How can they b...