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Theme 4: Determinism and Free will

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C3T4 booklet ABC free will and determinism. C3T4 booklet DEF free will and libertarianism.

A: Religious concepts of predestination

B: Concepts of determinism. C: The implications of predestination / determinism. D: Religious concepts of free will. E: Concepts of libertarianism. F: The implications of libertarianism and free will. A2 RS ETHICS Sample Theme FreeWill Determinism. Determinsim RS Review Mark Lambe. Determinism vs Free Will: Crash Course Philosophy #24. BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Free Will. Genes, Determinism and God - Theos Think Tank - Clear thinking on religion and society. Nick Spencer reviews Denis Alexander’s book which explores the relationship between genetic determinism, free will and moral responsibility.

Genes, Determinism and God - Theos Think Tank - Clear thinking on religion and society

Interested by this? Share it on social media. Join our monthly e–newsletter to keep up to date with our latest research and events. And check out our Supporter Programme to find out how you can help our work. Do you know that there is a gene for enjoying the Theos website? The absurdity of such an idea has not prevented many a journalist (or at least sub–editor) penning an article entitled “Scientists discover gene for X” when X = binge–drinking, being a caring man, believing in God, happiness, exam success, ruthlessness, or impulsivity (all genuine examples) and much else besides.

Alas, what is does is considerably more complex than headline, article or even, sometimes, scientific paper often claim. Where, we might then ask, do all the confusing stories and popular misconceptions about the balance of nature and nurture come from? Free will & Predestination. Your complimentary articles You’ve read one of your four complimentary articles for this month.

Free will & Predestination

You can read four articles free per month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please Articles Ralph Blumenau argues that there is more to the doctrine of predestination than we might think. Martin Tyrrell has written an interesting and entertaining article (Issue 19) on the wager element in religion; but I believe that in the course of it he shows that he shares a widespread misunderstanding of the doctrine of Predestination. We have to go back to the teaching of St Augustine. St Augustine did believe that Original Sin imperils the salvation of our souls. But St Augustine went further than this: some men are predestined to exercise their Will to accept the offer of Grace and others are predestined to reject it.

Augustine had developed a theory about Time which, strictly speaking, makes the use of the word “foresee” inappropriate. . © Ralph Blumenau 1998. Are God and chance compatible? It has long been the unquestioned assumption of many religious believers that the God who created the world also acts in it.

Are God and chance compatible?

Until recent scientific discoveries, few challenged the idea of how exactly God interacts with the world. With the introduction of Newtonian science and quantum theory, we now know much more about how the world works, and the mode of God’s action has become a serious question for believers. Many may believe God and chance must be seen as mutually exclusive. It is not uncommon to hear that “ascribing anything to ‘chance’ rules out God’s action.” This does not mean, of course, that believers constitute a homogeneous group whose views can be neatly summarized. The first challenge occurred with the rise of Newtonian science. At this point, believers faced a fork in the road. One has to question: does that leave any space for God to act? “An omnipotent God could have created free beings who always choose what is right!” Discuss [40]

With this point atheist philosopher JL Mackie rejected the classical Free Will Defense theodicy, relied on by generations of Christians to defend God against charges of creating and/or allowing evil and suffering.

“An omnipotent God could have created free beings who always choose what is right!” Discuss [40]

Going further, in his article “Evil and Omnipotence” (1955) Mackie argued that the absolute logical contradiction between believing that God is omnipotent and acknowledging the reality of evil in the world He created demonstrates that God cannot exist. Considering a range of classical theodicies, Mackie notes how each limits the meaning of an essential divine attribute to the extent that faith becomes difficult.

Oxford Philosophy Lectures

Determinism and Free will all sheets and revision checklist.