Post on 08-Dec-2016
A New DevelopmentWerner Heisenberg,
1901-1976The fundamental
laws of quantum physics are probabilistic
Physics is not deterministic!
Arthur Eddington, 1882-1944
We’re composed of matter that obeys physical laws
But the movement of fundamental particles is not deterministic
So we can have free will after all!
So Epicurus Was Right!“If an atom were
always carried along by natural necessary force, nothing would be up to us, since the mind would be moved in whichever way its atoms were.”
Determinist ObjectionYes, quantum physics is
indeterministic at the microscopic level
But it’s fairly deterministic at the level of ordinary objects
Quantum effects mostly cancel each other out at that level
The motion of each particular particle is uncertain, but not of an entire object
Indeterminist ResponseBut some ordinary-size
structures can amplify quantum indeterminism
Example: a Geiger counterAnother example: the human
brain?
Determinist Counter-Response
But do quantum events cause our choices, or do our choices cause the quantum events?
If quantum events cause our choices, then we’re still being determined by something outside our control.
If our choices cause quantum events, how? Aren’t we back to the spooky unmeasurable soul-force?
Are Reductive Materialism & Dualistic Spookiness Our Only
Options?It’s often said that the tendency of scientific thought in the past 500 years is more and more to undermine the special status of human beings …
Copernicus and Galileo
Help! Our planet isn’t at the center of the universe!
Charles Darwin Help! We’re descended from apes!
Karl Marx Help! We’re controlled by economic forces!
Sigmund Freud Help! We’re controlled by our subconscious!
But Parallel Philosophical Trends Have Been Reasserting Our
Special Status Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804
But Parallel Philosophical Trends Have Been Reasserting Our
Special Status G. W. F.
Hegel, 1770-1831
But Parallel Philosophical Trends Have Been Reasserting Our
Special Status Gottlob
Frege, 1848-1925
But Parallel Philosophical Trends Have Been Reasserting Our
Special Status Ludwig
Wittgenstein, 1889-1951
But Parallel Philosophical Trends Have Been Reasserting Our
Special Status John
McDowell, b. 1942
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
The truths of logic and mathematics do not depend on the nature of matter
So logical relations cannot be explained in purely physical terms
So nothing capable of grasping logical relations can be explained in purely physical terms either
So human beings cannot be explained in purely physical terms
A Crucial Distinction
Enabling conditions: those that make something’s existence possible
Constitutive conditions: those that determine something’s identity
What makes something a cube?
What composition, temperature, etc., are needed to keep a cubical shape?
A question for physicists and chemists
A question about enabling conditions
What makes something a cube?
What properties must a thing have to count as being a cube?
A question for geometers
A question about constitutive conditions
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
Geometry cannot be reduced to physics and chemistry
Constitutive conditions cannot be reduced to enabling conditions
Logic and psychology deal with the constitutive conditions of mind
Neurophysiology deals with the enabling conditions of mind
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
The dualists are partly right: the mind cannot be explained in purely material terms
The materialists are partly right:
to explain the mind we do not need to posit a non-material component
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
Both materialism and dualism make the same mistake
Both assume that if the mind has only material enabling conditions, then it can be entirely explained in material terms
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
Materialism says: the mind does have only material conditions
therefore it can be explained in purely material terms
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
Dualism says: the mind cannot be explained in purely material terms
therefore it must have some non-material enabling conditions
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
But a cube’s geometrical properties are not additional physical components alongside mass and chemical composition …
According to Post-Kantian Philosophy:
Mental phenomena are not non-material enabling conditions in addition to the mind’s material enabling conditions
Mental phenomena are not enabling conditions at all, they’re constitutive conditions
So Are Reductive Materialism & Dualistic Spookiness Our Only
Options?
No!
How does this help with free will?
Creatures with minds are made of matter
Our physical properties have to be compatible with our mental properties
Our physical properties do not have to explain our mental properties
How does this help with free will?
Indeterministic quantum events make free choices possible
They’re enabling conditions of our free choices
But indeterministic quantum events do not cause or explain our free choices
How does this help with free will?
Free will “software” can only run on indeterministic “hardware”
But the hardware is only an enabling condition, not a constitutive condition, of the software
How does this help with free will?
But how do we make the quantum events happen?
By exerting a mysterious soul-force on our component particles?
How does this help with free will?
No. Free will is not an additional enabling condition – it’s what gets enabled.
Our free choices don’t interfere with physical law.
How does this help with free will?
Physical law determines only the probabilities of quantum events
Our free choices don’t alter those probabilities
How does this help with free will?
Physical law determines how likely the quantum events are
We don’t make the enabling conditions more likely
We just make the enabling conditions happen
How does this help with free will?
But how do our free choices “make the quantum events happen”?
By exerting a spooky soul-force?
How does this help with free will?
No. Can you move an atom without using special equipment? Yes. Just move your hand.
How does this help with free will?
We don’t cause quantum events by exerting a spooky soul-force
We cause them simply by performing the actions which have those events as underlying enabling conditions
And so the debate continues …
The End