True to my word:

Nov 26, 2006 01:37

"I prefer examples to abstract theory"
-Brennan Ward

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Comments 4

enders_shadow November 27 2006, 17:09:47 UTC
grrrr!!

While I may prefer, I also prefer arguments which do not allow examples.

Take Free Will vs Determinism, for example. Try and use examples and not abstract theory in that debate. Just try.

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myrmedon November 29 2006, 21:27:26 UTC
A baseball lacks free will. Where it goes and what happens to it is determined by physical laws set in motion by forces external to and alien from the baseball.

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enders_shadow December 4 2006, 21:43:13 UTC
This is quite true. But I ask you, how is a new born baby any different then that baseball?

Where it goes is determined by where it starts. It may go to the ICU unit if it's not healthy. If it is, it will go home with it's parents--or get adopted. Either way, not it's choice. The parents and doctors and social forces of the world are external forces that the baby has ZERO choice in. Thus, how can you expect a baby to develop into a creature that supposedly has free will?

Perhaps more important, do animals have free will? If you I were to say humans have free will, I cannot deny that to a dog or cat. Can you?

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myrmedon December 4 2006, 22:59:39 UTC
well, yes, I would agree that the baby's will has nothing to do with where it goes after it is born any more than does a baseball. However, this doesn't at all show that it cannot develop free will later. Newborn baby brains are unable to control their limbs. That doesn't mean that they can't develop the neural connections necessary to control their limbs. Along your line of argumentation, because a newborn baby cannot speak, it will never develop the ability to speak ( ... )

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