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Re: Why Determinism could never be disproven or shown to be unlikely
Recently, on a different board, a determinist poster remarked that upon learning about probabilistic effects in quantum theory, he was "shocked" and found this "unimaginable". This isn't very far removed from the creationist position that "the universe is too wonderful to be natural, there must be a god", both are cases of denial and come under "appeal to incredulity". However, the determinist has a degree of scientific respectability, as appeal to so called physical laws can be evoked. I have concluded that, in at least some cases, determinism is espoused as a comforting mechanism and functions as an atheistic parallel to the motivations, of some, to adopt a religion.
Another point, in line with this thread's title, determinism cant easily be proven false, as the definition allows the follower to simply say that the universe in state A, being followed by the universe in state B, is determinism. However, as with religion, this is an attempt to switch the burden of proof, the experience, and even the existence, of our individual consciousnesses is a direct contradiction of strong determinism, and as such, can be awarded primacy by any theory of truth.
I'm interested to know what others feel are the motivations for adopting a determinist stance(?)
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