Robert Kane in his book, A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will, discusses the Consequence Argument for incompatibilism. I modified it and here is the argument:
If theological determinism is true, then how we act today is the necessary consequences of what God ordained we would do. But it is not up to us what God ordained. We have no control over those things. If it is not up to us whether certain things happen then neither is it up to us whether the consequences of those things happen. If we have no control over what God ordained we would do and it has the consequence that we will act in a certain way, then we have no control over how we act. Hence, if theological determinism is true, then it is not up to us how we act today. If it is not up to us how we act today, then we are not responsible for how we act today.
How would you respond to it?
I'm thinking that just because God ordains that we do something does not mean that we do not have any control over how we act. We can act according to our desires. Not all of our actions are involuntary reflexes.
If theological determinism is true, then how we act today is the necessary consequences of what God ordained we would do. But it is not up to us what God ordained. We have no control over those things. If it is not up to us whether certain things happen then neither is it up to us whether the consequences of those things happen. If we have no control over what God ordained we would do and it has the consequence that we will act in a certain way, then we have no control over how we act. Hence, if theological determinism is true, then it is not up to us how we act today. If it is not up to us how we act today, then we are not responsible for how we act today.
How would you respond to it?
I'm thinking that just because God ordains that we do something does not mean that we do not have any control over how we act. We can act according to our desires. Not all of our actions are involuntary reflexes.
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