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Free Will and Bad Behavior


A couple of studies highlight a point that many of us at the BreakPoint Blog (bloggers and commenters) have been making: those who don't believe that humans posses free will are more likely to "act in antisocial ways." Michael Cook at BioEdge.com elaborates. And under my earlier post on Neuronal Man, Philip Fennell also comments that those who don't believe in free will fail to enjoy the awesome wonders of the earth and heaven.

Comments:

The sowing of determinism
Despite all of the attempted diversions from the evidence, the brute fact remains that the twentieth century is the tragic monument to determinism. Statism, secularism, materialism and Darwinism all coalesced to varying degrees under Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others who ruthlessly reduced humanity to nothing more than pawns and slaves who were sacrificed to their mercenary worldviews.
Interesting paradox, isn't it?
Those who believe they have no choice in moral decisions are the most likely to make poor moral decisions. This is the point at which a mathematician says, "there is a third variable in this equation."