Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

aspect to reality. Because, how is it that some actions can count as agency and others not, but otherwise there is no apparent difference between them? There is no obvious answer, but perhaps it’s the way we ask our questions and the way we map the world that produces this problem.

Generally, it is thought that if determinism is true then there are no agents. If determinism is true, then there is no ‘settling of matters’, because all matters were settled at the start of the universe. But the future must be open if settling by agency is the heart of free will. So we seem to arrive at a contradiction in the view of free will that has been proposed above. We are just left with insisting that life, sentience, consciousness, embodiment and agency somehow make a difference, without really being able to pin down why this is the case. So, to be fair, I am not saying that the argument given above is proven. I think however that the argument is compelling and that it is best to accept the contradiction it seems to imply. I am assuming the truth of free will going forward, as we explore ethics and morality. With value and free will we are gifted with the opportunity to derive meaning and purpose and to set our ethics and morality up in relation to these.

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