Q&A: Free Choice
Free Choice
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi. If I understood the Rabbi’s view correctly regarding freedom of choice, then the principle of causality is violated in the case of choice, such that an electron or something begins to move without a material cause. And this is only because there is an intuition of free choice. You compared this to the laws of the Torah of “Do not murder” versus the commandment to wipe out Amalek, where in order to uphold both, one must limit “Do not murder.” But seemingly, in the Torah analogy one indeed must accept an exception to the commandment, since both came from one lawgiver—but from where do you get the right to limit such an important principle as causality just because of an intuition? P.S. The intuition people had before the Renaissance compelled them to think that the world is flat.
Answer
Causality too is a principle grounded in intuition and not in anything empirical. If you read my article or book, it is explained there. We are dealing with a clash between intuitions, and therefore the reasonable solution is lex specialis.
That intuitions can be mistaken is obvious. Vision too can be mistaken. So will you give up everything that vision shows you? At most, you should be careful not to err as much as you can. But examples prove nothing. See the column on the law of small numbers.