Fated or Free | The Mechanics of Choice

Dec 5, 2024

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Dr. Jacobs takes a look at the history of ideas through the lens of free will, from Socrates to the stoics to Augustine. He responds to Neil deGrasse Tyson and Charles Liu's scientific perspective on human choice. Find out in this episode if Dr. Jacobs believes in libertarian freedom. Also he gives a preview of his upcoming series on the problem of evil.

Predestination Part 1: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination?r=r1mfj

Predestination Part 2: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination-d60?r=r1mfj

Predestination Part 3: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/a-brief-history-of-predestination-cb9?r=r1mfj

All the links:

X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:03:25) What is determinism?

(00:12:18) What is incompatibalism?

(00:14:31) Libertarian freedom

(00:19:07) Compatibalism

(00:29:49) Fate vs determinism

(00:32:09) Libertarianism in the ancient Pagan philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and the epicureans)

(00:35:08) Stoicism, libertarian freedom, and fatalism

(00:41:52) The church fathers and free choice

(00:48:02) God is good (problem of evil teaser)

(01:06:38) Challenges of free will for the church fathers (foreknowledge and predestination)

(01:18:33) Dr. Jacobs’ opinion

(01:29:06) Do Calvinists deny free will?

(01:33:43) The divide of philosophy and theology

(01:37:25) The philosophical case for free will

(01:58:23) Why people doubt free will

(01:59:57) The scientific case against free will (responding to Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, & Chuck Nice on StarTalk)

(02:10:41) Leibniz, the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and equipoise

(02:42:44) Things above and below reason