Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Free Will vs. Determinism, Theology, Social Theory

Given the premise that a good deity is the creator of the universe, the Free Will vs. Determinism debate gets aggrandized to eschatological status.  As a result, among the prominent propositions, from both sides, that have emerged from the Theological tradition are: that the deity bestows Free Will on every human; that no such bestowal takes place, so that, instead, the behavior of every human is determined by laws of Nature; and the life of every human is predestined.  Now, each of these propositions has influenced concepts of society, via apparent 'secularization': the principle of the inalienable Freedom of each human, the principle of the inalienable power of each human, and Capitalism as a medium of the dispensation of Grace, respectively.  Thus, if, as has been previously proposed here, Free Will originates in Locomotion, then the Theologizing of both it and Determinism is undermined, and the corresponding foundations of social theory are, at minimum, shaken.

No comments:

Post a Comment