This is interesting, Dale.
Let me start by asking for clarification. I don't want to assume that I know the boundaries of your position and therefore put words into your mouth.
Quote:DN:
Lovecraft's materialist philosophy says that we have no free will.
Is this unique to Lovecraft's understanding of materialism, or is it a general feature of materialism? Is it true that all materialist thought posits determinism?
If true, this seems to imply that free will is co-joined to non-materialism, and hence to a spiritual reality.
Is this also accurate, Dale? I don't know, I haven't thought exhaustively about it and I'll tip my hand here because I'm not looking at this as a contest, but rather an opportunity for me to learn something.
My gut feeling is that the grosser circumstances are clearly defined by determinism. The instant that my wife was born, of Japanese descent, to two parents of short stature, she was never going to play in the NBA, as it is now constituted.
But her decision to marry me, I do not see as necessarily predetermined--I mean, I had to kick a lot of other guys out of the way.
So is it possible for determinism/free will to operate within certain scopes, rather like the difference in the perceived reactive physics of subatomic, microscopic, and astro physics?
I'm nowhere near sure.
There's always the mumbo-jumbo answer offered in infinite realities as posited by quantum mechanics, and intuitively (but not necessarily logically) I reject this, but if you write yourself an intellectual blank check by accepting a multi-dimensional, unbounded, timeless universe, anything is possible, I suppose.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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