The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #158223   Message #3748582
Posted By: Bill D
04-Nov-15 - 06:01 PM
Thread Name: BS: The Pope in America
Subject: RE: BS: The Pope in America
"But in most situations of moral choice, people of good will will agree, and will usually choose the same thing."

Hmmm, Joe... isn't that a way of defining people who do "choose the same thing" that we approve of as people of good will"? ;>)

...and "I think that perhaps there is no "free will" in most situations;.."

   That is certainly one way to look at possibilities... was it freely chosen? ;>)

Seriously, I don't think free will can be so easily relegated to just odd moments. Obviously, prior events and various peer group pressures influence our decisions in various complex ways, but assigning determinism to 'most' of them is a stretch. Determinism is usually...(in philosophy)... an all or nothing position. The concept of tabula rasa in Psychology suggests that we are born "open" to all possibilities, and stuff immediately starts happening that affects everything we do. What it doesn't explain clearly is how we can even reflect on that idea if we are "determined".

I claim that a lot of the argument is just linguistic....