NDLI: Freedom in nature

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Hájíček, P.
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	The paper starts with the proposal that the cause of the apparent insolubility of the free-will problem are several popular but strongly metaphysical notions and hypotheses. To reduce the metaphysics, some ideas are borrowed from physics. A concept of event causality is discussed. The importance of Hume’s Principle of Causality is stressed and his Principle of Causation is weakened. The key concept of the paper, the so-called relative freedom, is also suggested by physics. It is a kind of freedom that can be observed everywhere in nature. Turning to biology, incomplete knowledge is defined for all organisms. They cope with the problem by Popper’s trial and error processes. One source of their success is the relative freedom of choice from the basic option ranges: mutations, motions and neural connections. Finally, the conjecture is adopted that communicability can be used as a criterion of consciousness and free will is defined as a conscious version of relative freedom. The resulting notion is logically self-consistent and it describes an observable phenomenon that agrees with our experience.
Starting Page	2073
Ending Page	2091
Page Count	19
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00017701
Journal	General Relativity and Gravitation
Volume Number	41
Issue Number	9
e-ISSN	15729532
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2009-06-20
Publisher Place	Boston
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Physics Causality Free will Memory Consciousness Incomplete knowledge Trial and error Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology Differential Geometry Relativity and Cosmology Mathematical and Computational Physics Quantum Physics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Physics and Astronomy

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