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masque wrote (edited )

Reply to comment by qgos in Science Feels Dead by throwaway

If you're willing to entertain emotions and meaning as "material," why do you reject a material interpretation of free will? Why must free will be categorized as supernatural?

Do you consider mathematical objects to be material?

EDIT: What do you even mean when you say that the abstract concept of "meaning" is material?

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[deleted] wrote

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masque wrote (edited )

Free will implies that our actions are free choices. Materialism implies that our actions are not chosen, they just happen. I don’t know of another interpretation.

According to the well-known PhilPapers survey in 2009, the majority view among professional philosophers is compatibilism, which is the belief that determinism and free will are compatible (some even argue that determinism is necessary to be in control of one's actions in any meaningful sense). One compatibilist you might be familiar with is Daniel Dennett, who is very much a materialist with respect to philosophy of mind (I've also seen multiple people refer to him as "the only good New Atheist").

Also, mathematical objects are as material as words and sentences.

It's not obvious to me that words and sentences are material (not that you've given a concrete definition of "material"). Moreover, it seems like you might be implying that mathematics is a human invention in the same way that language is, which is highly contentious.

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