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Luck argument. Philosophy of mind from A to Z

15 June, 2018

It’s a widespread belief that necessary condition of free will is indeterminism. But it can turn out that indeterminism raises difficulties for free will. Luck argument reveals these difficulties. Philosopher Artem Besedin and neuroscientist Vasily Klucharev discussed the issue within a mutual project with Postnauka “Philosophy of mind from A to Z”.

Free will is impossible if all events are determined or inevitable. Hence necessary condition of free will is indeterminism. But it can turn out that indeterminism raises difficulties for free will. Luck argument reveals these difficulties. If an action were totally undetermined then its occurrence or nonoccurrence would depend on luck or chance. But free will is incompatible with blind chance. We don’t say that somebody acts freely because it’s a matter of chance. Thus indeterminism excludes free will.

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