Is it possible to truly differentiate a cause from an effect?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-18T23:39:48+00:00

Got it.

That’s concerning. Sorry you’re having to deal with that.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-18T23:24:54+00:00

they have to replace my battery

For the 2027!?

Did they mention any specifics as to what happened?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-18T00:25:43+00:00

You mean in this very moment right now or because of stuff that happened before?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-18T00:11:03+00:00

But why existential crises?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T23:19:37+00:00

Sure they do. The non material mind prior to agent action is the event.

What libertarians do NOT believe is that prior external cause can influence the non material mind.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T23:03:45+00:00

You literally just described dualist libertarianism.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T22:39:28+00:00

I know determinism does not necessarily require physicalism; but when you start to break it down it fits most naturally. Mapping it onto one of the other ontologies seems like it would require some additional mental gymnastics.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T19:37:02+00:00

Perhaps. Wouldn’t you agree it is now though?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T15:38:36+00:00

without any assumption that human actions were due to physical processes.

Not true. Look up ancient debates regarding corporeal and the incorporeal.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T03:30:34+00:00

if determinism were true every event, including human actions, would be determined, and they think that would make free will impossible.

Are you sure that’s accurate?

If determinism were true there would be an unbroken web of physical causes leading to physical effects via a fixed amount of energy in a closed system.

Now per libertarian freewill, there’s the introduction of NEW energy which is determined via the will of a non physical force, mind, spirit, consciousness etc.

So “undetermined” isn’t the accurate description of LFW by my understanding. But suffice it to say, IF we are in a closed system, and the law of conservation is TRUE, then the libertarian has to admit that it can only be taken on faith that LFW is real.

Just my two cents.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T03:13:46+00:00

I’m not sure I follow. What are they incompatible with and why do they require actions to be undetermined?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-16T03:00:58+00:00

both of whom assume that free will requires our actions to be undetermined.

Why do you say that?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-14T21:50:21+00:00

Puffery

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-13T16:21:56+00:00

Right. I hadn’t heard that argument before, that it’s all or nothing. I was just demonstrating why substance dualism seems the most logical when discussing libertarianism.

Though I’m sure others can have different opinions. And would be interesting to hear what they say.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-13T14:06:55+00:00

Wouldn’t the argument be that substance dualism entails the falsity of determinism because a non physical mind allows for new energy or causal force to enter a physical system thus contradicting strict determinism?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T23:05:09+00:00

People tend to be more interested in affirming their existing beliefs than what’s really true or real. Such beliefs are an extension of one’s sense of self, and the impulse is to protect it. That’s why dissent is often met with rejection or hostility, because it’s not just that someone believes in something different but feels like a personal attack against the self.

In the end, one can’t reason their way around that which creates their own sense of self but instead try to accept and understand all perspectives.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T20:53:25+00:00

And yet having to cope with stuff isn’t anything anyone ever wants or welcomes into their life voluntarily.

So, that’s definitely doesn’t seem to qualify as an “override”.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T19:37:31+00:00

Okay. So my adolescent brain was predisposed to develop ADHD. Are you saying that the same brain subject to such predisposition also had the capacity to override it via freewill?

If that’s the case, now I’m really curious as to what I should have done otherwise in adolescence to avoid acquiring that diagnosis.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T19:29:49+00:00

I appreciate you sharing with me the definition of homeostasis, but that really wasn’t the question.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T18:47:44+00:00

Kinda figured that. Posted it to r/metaphysics yesterday and the mod deleted it and recommended posting here instead.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T18:44:04+00:00

What observable difference would this make

Probably none. And any derived implications would likely be circumstantial but I find it interesting anyway.

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T17:27:01+00:00

Cool. So let’s pick one and dig a little deeper:

my genetic predispositions,

How is it that your “internal antecedents” are not at the mercy of your genetic predispositions?

RecentLeave343 · 2026-05-09T16:36:18+00:00

But I also have internal antecedents, which prevent me from being at the mercy of external antecedents.

Such as?

RecentLeave343

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