Saturday, June 24, 2017

Determinism, Indeterminism, Locomotion

As has been previously discussed, on the topic of Time, the theories of Bergson and Einstein may be merely alternatives, not in opposition.  In contrast, the former does directly contradict the Determinism of the latter, arguing that there is Indeterminacy in the physical world--at the moment of the initiation of locomotion in the Animal kingdom, which is its fundamental distinction from Plants.  Put otherwise, according to Bergson, the Stimulus-Response relation does not reduce to the Cause-Effect connection of Physics, because, unlike that of the latter, there is a discontinuity between its two phases. Now, there might be a Determinist rejoinder that fills in that purported gap; but, it is not that of Einstein, whose dismissal of Indeterminacy on the grounds that it is psychologically illusory does not touch Bergson's concrete analysis.

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