Q&A: Determinism Without Free Choice
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Determinism Without Free Choice
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to know how, according to the deterministic approach, it is possible to discover new information about the world.
After all, where can new knowledge arise in a person if all the sources of knowledge are located either in the person or in his environment?
And that new knowledge still does not yet exist in the world.
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. Are you asking how a person learns? According to determinists, it is like the way a computer learns. It receives inputs and learns from them. And from the perspective of someone who believes in free choice, isn’t learning also just drawing information from the environment?