Hello all. I was just wondering if there are any famous philosophers who support determinism. In my Introduction to Philosophy course, we touched on a lot of philosophy about liberty, or free will, but we didn't really reflect on any philosophy that was deterministic. The closest we came to determinism was when we read David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. However, as some of you may know, Hume believed both free will and determinism were compatible. I asked my professor but he wasn't sure. He said he'd email some philosophers, but I also wanted to hear your guys' suggestions. Personally, I believe in free will, but I'd like to learn both sides of the debate. And who knows, maybe I'll believe in determinism after reading some philosophy about it. Also, I apologize for posting this in the Existentialism subforum. I wasn't sure what free will and determinism constituted as. Thanks!
as i understand it , determinism derives from scientific behaviorism . science is not philosophy , it is a dicipline of inquiry . it will be directed by a philosophy in what is chosen to be investigated . in a debate free will defeats determinism by tricking the determinist into exhibiting free will . this is existential .
There's Daniel Dennett. He's a pretty popular one and has a entire presentations available on youtube last time I checked. He's the only one I know of. How does one exhibit free will? Isn't the entire reason this debate exists in the first place because nobody knows whether it's possible to act on free will, or if all action are pre-determined?
What is will for? Our fundamental will is to be and beyond that to extend/preserve being. We come into life born of process owing nothing. Our will to be is existential and free to our apprehension. There is one living will that is free to all comers.
