Our meeting topic for August, suggested by Jon, is free will. For those of us who do not believe in the intervention of supernatural agents, this is an important issue. On the one hand, we do not believe our lives are predetermined by the Fates (or just Fate) or God. On the other, does our acceptance of science and the understanding of natural laws - which are based on the reliability of cause and effect - mean we have no free will?
There are many concerns with either accepting or rejecting free will. How much control do we have over our own lives? What can we be held responsible for?
There is no one definitive article on such a broad topic, but I think a good starting place is the Skeptics Dictionary article:
http://www.skepdic.co...
An author's personal account of why he doesn't believe in free will - and the benefits of his shift in thinking:
http://www.naturalism...
Some believe that while cause and effect applies as much to human behavior as any other part of nature, we still have free will. This is called compatibilism:
http://plato.stanford...
You don't have to read all 3 links; the 1st one will suffice to give you a grounding for conversation. But I've provided all 3 to try and give a more comprehensive picture.
I'm sure this will spark some excited debate. Hope you all can make it of your own choosing (or not)!
Talk about this Meetup
Delete this comment?
This comment has been deleted.