From: utzoo!watmath!pcmcgeer Newsgroups: net.misc Title: determinism vs free will Article-I.D.: watmath.3150 Posted: Fri Jul 30 17:00:43 1982 Received: Sat Jul 31 00:09:14 1982 This argument is beginning to resemble one of the more abstruse of medieval theological discussions. I can play, too. I say five angels can stand on the head of a pin, four if one or more has been doing rather too well on the manna recently. Otherwise, has anyone thought that questions of free will vs determinism are meaningless? First, note that determinism requires a god. Then note that any God capable of creating the Universe is capable of predicting any decision we make and predicting the way His Own Dice fall. Therefore, such a God can permit us free will. Therefore, it's easy to have both determinism and free will. Note, incidentally, that the question resolves itself nicely. If you are an atheist, you clearly believe in Free Will. If you are an agnostic, you're confused (sorry, can't help everyone). If you are a Christian, it doesn't matter. The Jewish or Moslem faiths presumably solve the problem as easily, I wouldn't know. Cheers, Rick McGeer.