Steve and Matt --
On Fri, June 24, 2011 at 9:52 PM, "Steven Peterson"
<[email protected]> wrote:
Matt, all,
I think whether the issue with regard to causation or determinism
comes up as problematic is whether one thinks of causation as an
epistemological issue (certainty/uncertainty) or as somehow
ontological/metaphysical (things actually follow laws that can be
spelled out or are otherwise written into the fabric of the cosmos).
When the "law-like" issue comes up it is because someone is thinking
of causation as a universal obligation rather than a causal law being
merely descriptive and therefore innocuous as far as stealing our
humanity in some metaphysical way. In the MOQ, causality is an
intellectual pattern concerned with predicting and controlling our
world. It has epistemological rather than ontological standing.
How could getting better at predicting and controlling the world make
us less human? But if causality is thought to be a metaphysical reality
then we may worry about really being nothing but meat puppets.
Again, Steve, you have unwittingly nailed the problem. Causation is not
epistemological; it is ontological, or more properly "teleological". Which
means that the laws of nature -- including evolution, the conservation of
energy, thermodynamics, relativity, action and reaction, and quantum
physics -- are teleologically determined, as opposed to autonomous agents
which are free to act in accordance with their will. In this way,
determinism and free will complement each other. We cannot control the
world, but we can adapt it to our needs by predicting dangers and avoiding
them, by understanding the causes of energy generation and utilizing them,
by investigating palliatives for diseases and curing them, by studying the
principles of societal evolution and applying them, etc., etc.
Where you draw the line of metaphysicality vs. existence depends on your
philosophical persuasion. However, I think you misrepresent the intellect
in your analysis. You are correct in saying that the MoQ treats causality
as an "intellectual pattern", which implies that the "pattern" is the agent
of control. But intellect is a function of human reasoning based on
experience, so it has nothing to do with ontology or cosmology and
everything to do with epistemology (i.e., how we learn from experience).
Also, causality is not metaphysical but the "processing mode" of existential
reality. Only in a differentiated, relational system can there be
cause-and-effect. So, far from being "meat puppets", we humans enjoy the
best of both worldviews: the predictability and reliability of determinism
as "created beings", as well as the autonomy and freedom afforded to
conscious agents.
Essentially speaking,
Ham
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
