Dan said:
... I am guessing all the major religions use the notions of free will and
determinism to explain the problem of good vs evil. That would seem to point to
previous religious ideas far older than our "modern" ones, from which they are
all descended.
dmb says:
I think that's right. It hardly seems like the same thing at all on the
surface. In pre-modern times determinism meant that the gods had already
decided your fate but for the century or two determinism has meant that you are
bound and determined by natural laws. The former is based on the whims of the
gods and the latter is based on a perfect chain of causality that extends from
the big bang to the end of this sentence. In both cases, your so-called choices
are not really choices at all and were in fact decided long ago. Either way,
determinism is absolutely bleak. Who doesn't bristle and shudder at the
thought? You meaningless cog, you!
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