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Complex Freedom

Author

Listed:
  • Davor Pecnjak

    (Institute of Philosophy)

Abstract

We have a very strong intuition and a very strong feeling that we, as human beings, generally have freedom of the will and freedom of the action. It seems that in most situations we can do this or that; namely, we can do action A or we can refrain from doing action A under the same conditions. The view which argues that this is not an illusion and that we have genuine freedom is the libertarian view. I would like to examine could that view be plausible under scientific understanding of the world. It seems that physical sciences strongly support determinism. Chaos theory and indeterminism in quantum mechanics could not save freedom because chaos is a deterministic theory and indeterminate events in quantum mechanics happen by pure chance. Pure chance is not something we want as freedom. But, perhaps, we can have freedom reconciled (although maybe in a restricted form) if actions or decisions can be described by equations which allow more than one solution and if these solutions can be interpreted as refering to different contents of the will or to different actions.

Suggested Citation

  • Davor Pecnjak, 2009. "Complex Freedom," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 7(1), pages 14-21.
  • Handle: RePEc:zna:indecs:v:7:y:2009:i:1:p:14-21
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    free will; determinism; libertarianism; chaos theory; complexity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Y80 - Miscellaneous Categories - - Related Disciplines - - - Related Disciplines

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