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Pluto, v. 1, issue 4, September 1940
Page 4
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D.P.U.P.C.P.I. DEPARTMENT FOR THE PROPAGATION OF UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO PET IDEAS Free Will? [handwritten]8[end handwritten] BY L. R. CHAUVENET There is no such thing as free-will, and all actions, whether of animate or inanimate forms, are governed by a strict determinism. This will be more readily accepted on consideration of the argument from which it is derived. Suppose that a man is placed in a given situation. He will then react in one of several possible ways. We usually say that he "chooses" his course of action. But now let us question whether the man could actually have done anything else than he did. For the sake of argument, we put our imaginary man back into the same situation. If, now he is exactly the same as he was before, down to the last and smallest particles of his being, he will do just what he did previously. For of the three factors in the case, the man, the situation, and the resulting action, if we keep any one constant, then the other two depend on each other, and vary, if they vary, together. For example, if the situation be in a trench in a batlefield and one course of action is leaping out and charging the enemy, and, another course is cowering in the mud, obviously there will be great differences between the men who choose these different actions. Now, returning to our previous case, since the situation is in every way identical, if the man is also the same, he will react in precisely the same way. Any difference of action, in fact, will be proof that he is different from the individual we considered at first. Thus, any given individual is never the "same". Indeed the very fact, of a change from one second to the next, due to the unceasing activity and change among his body cells, to say nothing of his atoms,electrons and so on, makes this so. Therefore, submitting the same individual to successive similar tests, is inconclusive, because he is not strictly, the "same". The fact that he reactions of individuals vary, when are placed in nearly as possible identical situations. prove that they are different, not only from other individuals at all times, but from themselves at other times. Our argument, then, clearly shows us that what a person will do in any given situation will depend upon the exact fundamental structure of that person at that moment. And since a person can only be constructed in one way at any given moment, there is accordingly only one possible course of action for the person at that moment, faced with our standard situation. We must here re-emphasize that we are thinking continued on page 25.
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D.P.U.P.C.P.I. DEPARTMENT FOR THE PROPAGATION OF UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO PET IDEAS Free Will? [handwritten]8[end handwritten] BY L. R. CHAUVENET There is no such thing as free-will, and all actions, whether of animate or inanimate forms, are governed by a strict determinism. This will be more readily accepted on consideration of the argument from which it is derived. Suppose that a man is placed in a given situation. He will then react in one of several possible ways. We usually say that he "chooses" his course of action. But now let us question whether the man could actually have done anything else than he did. For the sake of argument, we put our imaginary man back into the same situation. If, now he is exactly the same as he was before, down to the last and smallest particles of his being, he will do just what he did previously. For of the three factors in the case, the man, the situation, and the resulting action, if we keep any one constant, then the other two depend on each other, and vary, if they vary, together. For example, if the situation be in a trench in a batlefield and one course of action is leaping out and charging the enemy, and, another course is cowering in the mud, obviously there will be great differences between the men who choose these different actions. Now, returning to our previous case, since the situation is in every way identical, if the man is also the same, he will react in precisely the same way. Any difference of action, in fact, will be proof that he is different from the individual we considered at first. Thus, any given individual is never the "same". Indeed the very fact, of a change from one second to the next, due to the unceasing activity and change among his body cells, to say nothing of his atoms,electrons and so on, makes this so. Therefore, submitting the same individual to successive similar tests, is inconclusive, because he is not strictly, the "same". The fact that he reactions of individuals vary, when are placed in nearly as possible identical situations. prove that they are different, not only from other individuals at all times, but from themselves at other times. Our argument, then, clearly shows us that what a person will do in any given situation will depend upon the exact fundamental structure of that person at that moment. And since a person can only be constructed in one way at any given moment, there is accordingly only one possible course of action for the person at that moment, faced with our standard situation. We must here re-emphasize that we are thinking continued on page 25.
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