For this weekly check-in, read the sixth chapter, “Free Will” on pp. 47-58 in your book What Does It All Mean by Thomas Nagel. After discussing the choice between the peach and the chocolate cake, Nagel says:

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November 30, 2020
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For this weekly check-in, read the sixth chapter, “Free Will” on pp. 47-58 in your book What Does It All Mean by Thomas Nagel. After discussing the choice between the peach and the chocolate cake, Nagel says:

So perhaps the feeling that you could have chosen a peach instead of a piece of cake is a philosophical illusion, and couldn’t be right whatever was the case. To avoid this conclusion, you would have to explain (a) what you mean if you say you could have done something other than what you did, and (b) what you and the world would have to be like for this to be true.

For your original thread, explain how you understand the difference between free will and determinism. Next, discuss whether you believe humans have free will. If you think we do, how do you understand us and the world around us such that free choice exists? If you think we do not, are you convinced that free choice is simply an illusion? How does your worldview support that belief?

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