Philosophers and Theologians on the Freedom of the Will

1951 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-122
Author(s):  
D. M. Baillie
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One

It is a curious fact that while the problem of free will has been long and widely discussed by both philosophers and theologians in the modern world, it has been largely in two separate compartments, the one set seldom conferring with the other, or even overhearing what the other has to say. Sometimes they seem almost to be talking of two different things.

The Rationality of Probabilities for Actions in Decision Theory

1998 ◽  
pp. 32-37
Author(s):  
Marion Ledwig
Keyword(s):  
Decision Theory ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Subjective Probabilities ◽  
Newcomb’S Problem ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
The Given

Spohn's decision model, an advancement of Fishburn's theory, is valuable for making explicit the principle used also by other thinkers that 'any adequate quantitative decision model must not explicitly or implicitly contain any subjective probabilities for acts.' This principle is not used in the decision theories of Jeffrey or of Luce and Krantz. According to Spohn, this principle is important because it has effects on the term of action, on Newcomb's problem, and on the theory of causality and the freedom of the will. On the one hand, I will argue against Spohn with Jeffrey that the principle has to be given up. On the other, I will try to argue against Jeffrey that the decision-maker ascribes subjective probabilities to actions on the condition of the given decision situation.

Notes on Mental Defect in Criminals

1917 ◽  
Vol 63 (260) ◽  
pp. 16-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Donkin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Deficiency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Criminal Conduct ◽  
Mental Defect

I. In pursuance of the intention, signified in my “Notes on the Mental Deficiency Act” in the Journal for July, 1916, to consider, as practically as may be, the subject of mental defect as a factor in the production of crime, I find it desirable to make some introductory remarks concerning the recently increasing literature of what is known as “Criminology.” This term may be properly applied to investigations undertaken with a view to giving such an account of criminal conduct and criminal men as may assist in the formation of practical measures towards the prevention of the one and the appropriate treatment of the other. Most of the more modern discussions on crime and criminals have either directly or indirectly been occasioned by the efforts of persons concerned in some way with prison administration, or otherwise specially conversant with convicted criminals, who strive to discover just principles on which to base their practice. But the growing bulk of doctrine and debate on the causation of crime, the genesis and treatment of the criminal, the meaning of “responsibility,” and even the State's “right” to “punish” offenders at all, consists to a great extent of definitely formulated theories largely based on preconceived assumptions regardless of fact, and often mutually contradictory. This occasions much difficulty to those who aim at any clear understanding of the subject; and the difficulty is increased by the frequently indefinite and equivocal use of the words “crime,” “criminal,” and “punishment,” which denote the very subjects of discussion. Thus the handling of the whole matter becomes widely diffused, leaving no firm ground on which to rest any useful conclusion. Sundry kinds of topics, sociological, ethical, psychological, and biological, become involved in the dispute, and the student may even be landed and left in the midst of such perennial controversies as those about the “freedom of the will,” and the nature, and even existence, of the relation between mind and matter.

Kroniek van een aangekondigd ontslag. Twee opmerkelijke brieven van Alfons Van de Perre betreffende zijn afscheid als volksvertegenwoordiger in 1919

2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Luc Vandeweyer
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
First World War ◽  
Source Material ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
First World ◽  
Member Of Parliament

In deze bronnenpublicatie ontleedt Luc Vandeweyer de parlementaire loopbaan van de geneesheer-politicus Alfons Van de Perre: hoe hij in 1912 feitelijk  tegen wil en dank  volksvertegenwoordiger werd, zich anderzijds blijkbaar naar behoren kweet van zijn taak en tijdens de eerste verkiezingen na de Eerste Wereldoorlog (1919) zijn mandaat hernieuwd zag maar meteen daarop ontslag nam. Volgens de bekende historiografische lezing was de abdicatie van de progressieve politicus een daad van zelfverloochening die enerzijds werd ingegeven door gezondheidsmotieven en  anderzijds was geïnspireerd door de wil om de eenheid binnen de katholieke partij te herstellen. De auteur komt op basis van nieuw en onontgonnen bronnenmateriaal tot de vaststelling dat Van de Perres spontane beslissing tot ontslag in de eerste plaats een strategische keuze was: in het parlement, waar hij zich overigens niet erg in zijn schik voelde, kon hij minder invloed uitoefenen op de Vlaamse beweging dan via de talrijke engagementen waarvoor hij voortaan de handen vrij had. Eén ervan was die van bestuurder én publicist bij het dagblad De Standaard.________Chronicle of the announcement of a resignation. Two remaekable letters by Alfons Van de Perre concerning his resignation as a Member of Parliament in 1919In this source publication Luc Vandeweyer analyses the parliamentary career of the physician-politician Alfons Van de Perre and he describes how Van de Perre became a Member of Parliament in 1912 actually against the grain, yet how he apparently did a good job carrying out his duties. During the first elections after the First World War (1919) Van de Perre found that his mandate was renewed, but he handed in his resignation immediately afterwards. According to the familiar historiographical interpretation the abdication of the progressive politician was an act of self-denial, which was prompted on the one hand by health reasons and on the other hand inspired by the will to restore unity within the Catholic political party. On the basis of new and so far unexplored source material the author concludes that the spontaneous decision by Van de Perres to hand in his resignation was above all a strategic choice: in the Parliament, which he did not much enjoy anyway, he could exert less influence on the Flemish movement than via his numerous commitments, which he was now free to take on. One of these was the post of director as well as political commentator of the newspaper De Standaard.

The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in Renaissance Italy

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 149-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. J. McNair
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Giordano Bruno ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Renaissance Italy ◽  
The One

Between the execution of Gerolamo Savonarola at Florence in May 1498 and the execution of Giordano Bruno at Rome in February 1600, western Christendom was convulsed by the protestant reformation, and the subject of this paper is the effect that that revolution had on the Italy that nourished and martyred those two unique yet representative men: unique in the power and complexity of their personalities, representative because the one sums up the medieval world with all its strengths and weaknesses while the other heralds the questing and questioning modern world in which we live.

scholarly journals RISKS OF THE EDUCATION

THE BULLETIN ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (390) ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
R. Aetdinova ◽  
I. Maslova ◽  
Sh. Niyazbekova ◽  
O. Balabanova ◽  
Zh. Zhakiyanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Institution ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Modern World ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Education ◽  
The One ◽  
The University

The article justifies for the need to identify and to keep track, in practice, of different groups of risks inherent in educational institutions under current conditions of pandemic and post-pandemic transformation of education under the influence of modern world uncertainty. Transformation of education functions in the epoch of digital economy changes the content and types of risks concomitant to the activities carried out by schools. Schools belong to the most conservative types of organizations. However, the environment in which schools operate is constantly changing. An educational institution, as any enterprise, has to engage in the activity aimed at risk management. Manifestation of the risk is, on the one hand, fraught with threats and damage, on the other hand, with opportunities. Assessment of possible threats and risks allows timely projection of undesirable results, creation of a system for situational response to unforeseen circumstances and, in the final analysis, formulation of a strategy for development of the university which would allow achievement of modern high quality education, its fundamentality and conformity to important topical requirements of the personality, society and state. Causes of developing risks characteristic of educational institutions are disclosed. External and internal risks characteristic of educational institutions, sources generating them and the importance of managing them are analyzed. The analysis of risks made reveals multi-varied threats and opportunities in the external and internal envi-ronment of the institution and their ability to have a significant effect on educational, organizational and financial activities of the schools.

scholarly journals Edwards on the Incompatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will

Sententiae ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Oleh Bondar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Divine Foreknowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Freedom Of The Will ◽  
The Will ◽  
Theological Fatalism ◽  
Nelson Pike ◽  
Necessity Of The Past

In the book “Freedom of the Will”, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) put forward a strong ar-gument for theological fatalism. This argument, I suppose, can be considered as the universal basis for discussion between Fatalists and Anti-Fatalists in the 20th century, especially in the context of the most powerful argument for fatalism, introduced by Nelson Pike. The argument of Edwards rests upon the following principles: (a) if something has been the case in the past, it has been the case necessarily (Necessity of the past); (b) if God knows something (say A), it is not the case that ~A is possible (Infallibility of God`s knowledge). Hence, Edwards infers that if God had foreknowledge that A, then A is necessary, and it is not the case that someone could voluntarily choose ~A. The article argues that (i) the Edwards` inference Kgp → □p rests upon the modal fallacy; (ii) the inference „God had a knowledge that p will happen, therefore „God had a knowledge that p will happen” is the proposition about the past, and hence, the necessarily true proposition“ is ambiguous; thus, it is not the case that this proposition necessarily entails the impossibility of ~p; (iii) it is not the case that p, being known by God, turns out to be necessary. Thus, we can avoid the inference of Edwards that if Kgp is a fact of the past, then we cannot freely choose ~p. It has also been shown that the main provisions of the argument of Edwards remain significant in the context of contemporary debates about free will and foreknowledge (Theories of soft facts, Anti-Ockhamism, theories of temporal modal asymmetry, „Timeless solution”). Additionally, I introduce a new challenge for fatalism – argument from Brouwerian axiom.

Auditory Attention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Philip Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
The Other ◽  
Background Music ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Auditory Distraction ◽  
Environmental Sounds ◽  
The One

The modern world is noisy. Streets are cacophonies of traffic noise; homes and workplaces are replete with bleeping timers, announcements, and alarms. Everywhere there is the sound of human speech—from the casual chatter of strangers and the unwanted intrusion from electronic devices through to the conversations with friends and loved ones one may actually wish to hear. Unlike vision, it is not possible simply to “close our ears” and shut out the auditory world and nor, in many cases, is it desirable. On the one hand, soft background music or environmental sounds, such as birdsong or the noise of waves against the beach, is often comfortingly pleasurable or reassuring. On the other, alarms are usually auditory for a reason. Nevertheless, people somehow have to identify, from among the babble that surrounds them, the sounds and speech of interest and importance and to follow the thread of a chosen speaker in a crowded auditory environment. Additionally, irrelevant or unwanted chatter or other background noise should not hinder concentration on matters of greater interest or importance—students should ideally be able to study effectively despite noisy classrooms or university halls while still being open to the possibility of important interruptions from elsewhere. The scientific study of auditory attention has been driven by such practical problems: how people somehow manage to select the most interesting or most relevant speaker from the competing auditory demands made by the speech of others or isolate the music of the band from the chatter of the nightclub. In parallel, the causes of auditory distraction—and how to try to avoid it where necessary—have also been subject to scrutiny. A complete theory of auditory attention must account for the mechanisms by which selective attention is achieved, the causes of auditory distraction, and the reasons why individuals might differ in their ability in both cases.

Liberalism Without Transcendence

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
William R. Marty ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
Gradual Decline ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One

John Hallowell's seminal study, originally published in 1943, treats modem Western thought since the Renaissance and the Reformation as, in its core, liberal, and its foundations as based on an uneasy synthesis of potentially warring elements: On the one hand, the primacy of the will as embodied in the autonomous individual; on the other, the ability of these autonomous wills to bind themselves together freely, by contract and consent, on the basis of their acknowledgment of transcendent moral truths discoverable by reason. Conscience, then, enabled independent wills to acknowledge and submit to justice as found by reason or revelation. But Hallowell described also the gradual decline in the confidence in reason to find transcendent truths, and the subsequent decline in the ability of autonomous individuals to find grounds for genuine community. Where will alone reigns, all standards collapse, and increasingly the arbiter between wills becomes force. Western civiltation, even as it approaches becoming world civilization, increasingly manifests symptoms of dissolution and an inability to provide the foundation for genuine communities.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
Laura Quick
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
The One

The conclusion brings together the threads of the preceding chapters in order to demonstrate the major insight of the book, namely, that for the biblical authors personhood was negotiated in relation to the body and bodily objects. These insights have far-reaching implications for how we understand ancient conceptions of the body, the person, and relationships. On the one hand, dress is essential to the articulation and construction of identity, and this is also the case in the modern world. On the other, the multi-material aspect to ancient bodies is very different from modern Western ontologies. Ancient constructions of dress and the body are thus like and at the same time quite unlike our own. These constructions animate and inform biblical literature, and so are essential to properly understand and unpack the Hebrew Bible.

Droits de l’homme, droits de Dieu : Une inévitable tension ?

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Religious Obligation ◽  
Will Of God

The conflicts between rights of God and human rights are on the rise. On the one hand, there are some rights that are qualified as human rights in the most important international conventions and in many national constitutions. As such, they are to be respected always and everywhere. On the other hand, there are rights that are directly or indirectly attributed to the will of God. Their respect is regarded as a religious obligation to be upheld even when it implies the violation of human rights. These are the terms of the conflict and the fact that they sink their roots in non-negotiable beliefs – rights related to the very nature of man vs. rights dependent on the will of God–makes this conflict particularly serious and complex. This article discusses the structural and historical causes of this conflict and proposes a few strategies to reduce the tensions between these two sets of rights.

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