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God does not play Dice.

1879-1955

frequently spoken, perhaps first in 1943, conversation with William Hermanns

What I am really interested in is knowing whether God could have created the world in a different way.  In other words, whether the requirement of logical simplicity admits a margin of freedom.

Albert Einstein

1879-1955

as quoted in Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (2), p. 124 – not only does God not play dice, “God” has no choice to play

– not only does God not play dice, “God” has no choice to play

I know that everything proceeds according to law that is fixed for all time … Cause is linked with cause, and all public and private issues are directed by a long sequence of events.  Therefore everything should be endured with fortitude, since things do not, as we suppose, simply happen … Why, therefore, do we chafe?  Why complain?  For this were we born …

Seneca

4BC-65AD

On Providence (5:7-8), pp. 37-39

For a man does not therefore sin because God foreknew that he would sin.  Nay, it cannot be doubted but that it is the man himself who sins when he does sin, because He Whose foreknowledge is infallible, foreknew not that fate, or fortune, or something else would sin, but that the man himself would sin, who, if he wills it not, sins not.  But if he shall not will to sin, even this did God foreknow.

Augustine

354-430

City of God (5:10), p. 157-158 – how Augustine squares free will with a God who knows what humans will choose in advance of their choosing

– how Augustine squares free will with a God who knows what humans will choose in advance of their choosing

They themselves decreed their own revolt, not I.  If I foreknew, foreknowledge had no influence on their fault which had no less prov’d certain unforeknown.

John Milton

1608-1674

Paradise Lost (3:116-119), p. 170

I was as sure of having a will as I was of being alive … When I wanted something, or did not want it, I was absolutely certain that no one else but I was wanting or not wanting it.

Augustine

354-430

Confessions (7:3(5))

Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1997

(1:2:387) – an earlier position

– an earlier position

Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, inordinate attachments and other psychological and social factors.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

1997

(3:1:1735) – an amended later position

– an amended later position

Everything good and everything evil, in respect of which we are either worthy of praise or of blame, is done by us, not born with us.  We are not born in our full development, but with a capacity for good and evil; we are begotten as well without virtue as without vice.

Pelagius

354-420

as quoted by Augustine in On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin (2:14)

An intelligence knowing, all forces acting in nature at a given instant, as well as the momentary positions of all things in the universe, would be able to comprehend in one single formula the motions of the largest bodies in the world as well as the lightest atoms, provided that its intellect were sufficiently powerful to subject all data to analysis; to it nothing would be uncertain, the future as well as the past would be present to its eyes.

Pierre-Simon Laplace

1749-1827

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities – somewhat reworded, the classic definition of “determinism”

– somewhat reworded, the classic definition of “determinism”

This is the pivot upon which all religions turn: they all assume that it is in our power to believe or not to believe; whereas the mind can only believe that which it thinks true.  A human being can only be held accountable for those actions which are influenced by his will.  [But] belief is a passion, or involuntary operation of the mind …

Percy Bysshe Shelley

1792-1822

Notes to Queen Mab, p. 114

The horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.

Charles Darwin

1809-1882

as quoted by Peter S. Williams, CS Lewis vs the New Atheists, p. 119 – see also in support pp. 112-121, man’s deepest convictions derive from what helps him survive, not from an objective search for truth, and therefore cannot be trusted

– see also in support pp. 112-121, man’s deepest convictions derive from what helps him survive, not from an objective search for truth, and therefore cannot be trusted

It seems to me immensely unlikely that mind is a mere by-product of matter.  For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true.  They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically.  And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.

J.B.S.Haldane

1892-1964

Possible Worlds, p. 209

All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.

Samuel Johnson

1709-1784

quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, April 15, 1778

As neuroscience begins to reveal the mechanisms underlying personality, love, morality, and spirituality, the idea of a ghost in the machine [the soul] becomes strained.  Brain imaging indicates that all these traits have physical correlates in brain function.  Furthermore, pharmacologic influences on these traits, as well as the effects of localized stimulation or damage, demonstrate that the brain processes in question are not mere correlates but are the physical bases of these central aspects of our personhood.

Martha Farah

1955-

and Nancey Murphy, “Neuroscience and the Soul,” Science 323, February 27, 2009, p. 1168

Even in the wild, it isn’t just perception and operant conditioning that have survival value.  The capacity to generalize from experience and to allow these generalizations, or general expectations, to be confirmed or disconfirmed by subsequent experience is also adaptive.  So is a basic disposition to maintain logical consistency in belief, by modifying beliefs when inconsistencies arise.  A further, very important step would be the capacity to correct individual appearances not only by reference to other conflicting appearances of one’s own but also by reference to how things appear to other perceivers.  That requires recognition of other minds, an ability with obvious adaptive potential.  The reach of these capacities can be greatly extended and deliberately exercised with the help of language, which also permits knowledge to be collectively created, accumulated, and transmitted.  With language we can hold in our minds and share with others alternative possibilities, and decide among them on the basis of their consistency or inconsistency with further observations.  Complex scientific theories that entail empirical predictions are therefore extensions of the highly adaptive capacity to learn from experience—our own and that of others.

Thomas Nagel

1937-

Mind and Cosmos, p. 76 – survival largely depends on knowing the truth or, at least, understanding the truth is a natural by-product of survival

– survival largely depends on knowing the truth or, at least, understanding the truth is a natural by-product of survival

Such is the regularity we expect to find, if the actions of men are governed by the state of the society in which they occur; while on the other hand, if we can find no such regularity, we may believe that their actions depend on some capricious and personal principle peculiar to each man, as free will or the like.  It becomes, therefore, in the highest degree important, to ascertain whether or not there exists a regularity in the entire moral conduct of a given society; and this is precisely one of the questions for the decision of which statistics supply us with materials of immense value.

Henry Thomas Buckle

1821-1862

History of Civilization in England (volume 1, chapter 1), p. 23 – a deep justification for the fields of psychology and sociology, ultimately a test for the existence of free will

– a deep justification for the fields of psychology and sociology, ultimately a test for the existence of free will

We must then wholeheartedly believe in free will.  If free will is a reality, we shall have made the correct choice.  If it is not, we shall still not have made an incorrect choice, because we shall not have made any choice at all, not having a free will to do so.

Edward Lorenz

1917-2008

The Essence of Chaos, p. 160

The New Gospel

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