The Importance of Causal Intuitions

The experience of freely willed action is quite separate from physical causality. Infants under one year old identify bullies and victims, expect a pursuer to follow the most direct path in attempting to catch whatever it is chasing. The two modes of causation that we are set to perceive make it natural for us to accept the two central beliefs of many religions. An immaterial divinity is the ultimate cause of the physical world, and immortal souls temporarily control our bodies while we live and leave them behind as we die. Many people find it natural to describe their soul as the source and the cause of their actions.