[Ham] > Laplace used the premise that absolute knowledge would give us the power to > predict events. The "flaw" is that it is not possible to acquire > absolute knowledge; so he is begging the conclusion that events > are deterministic.
Laplace's argument does not depend on the possibility of absolute knowledge (whatever that might be). Instead: 1) Assume that the first exercise of free-will occurs at time t0. 2) If D0 is the complete state of the universe at time t0 & if the laws of nature were such that from D0 only D1 would result at time t1, then D1 must result at time t1. 3) :. D1 must occur at time t1 4) If D1 must occur at time t1, then the exercise of free-will cannot produce some result other than D1. 5) :. The exercise of free-will cannot produce some result other than D1. So Laplace has argued that free-will cannot change the outcome that must result by the laws of nature. Craig Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
