Notes on the implausibility of determinism

Tuukka Pensala
2022-06-20

In every conscious moment I witness making a choice, that is, I understand to be the determiner of some previously indeterminate things. This understanding is in obvious contradiction with determinism.

To resolve this contradiction, one could try to argue that the common understanding of having a choice is illusory. Such claims would require heavy evidence to reach preponderance, because surely almost every human would testify to the contrary, that indeed they understand to be conscious and that indeed they understand to have a choice. I haven't seen heavy evidence to shift the scale to the contrary.

Furthermore, denying the reality of choice seems to be the sawing of the intellectual branch that one sits on (performative contradiction), because in order to present such argument one already has the understanding that he is choosing to argue instead of not to argue. Or will someone go to the lengths of claiming that their argumentation behavior is involuntary? Would that be plausible?

Has anyone actually gotten rid of their understanding of having a choice, that is, has anyone reduced themselves to an automaton also in their own understanding, or are determinists instead just talking through their hat?

Currently the preponderance of evidence is on the side that the intimate understanding of conscious beings having a choice is actually the correct understanding. Furthermore, disproving such understanding seems to be impossible without already relying on the understanding that one is supposed to be disproving, providing the strongest possible defense for the position.