Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Freedom, Choice, Finitude

While having a choice is usually taken as an indication of Freedom, it also entails constraint--not being able to achieve both options.  Accordingly, an infinite being can be conceived as acting in all directions at once, e. g. the Emanation of Plotinus, and, perhaps, of Spinoza.  Unlike Leibniz' deity, Emanation does not have to choose between possible worlds, i. e. for it, they are all actual, with each equivalent to the perspective of a Leibnizian Monad.  On the other hand, that there appears to be only a single actual world could be taken as proof of the non-existence of an infinite deity.  In any case, having a choice means having to choose, so, thus constrained, is only relatively less unfree than behavior that is compelled from without.

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