Q&A: Free Choice versus Determinism
Free Choice versus Determinism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I would appreciate some clarification regarding the issue of free choice.
I understand that determinism and free choice do not go together when it comes to human beings. But nature itself is deterministic, with no gaps except on very small scales.
My question is this:
Seemingly, through his choices a person can change nature—where there is a hill, create a valley, and vice versa, in the topographical model.
If that is the picture, then seemingly it follows that nature is not deterministic and can be changed by human beings—climate, asteroids on their way toward Earth, and so on.
Answer
Obviously human choices cause changes in nature. If a person chooses to give charity, his hand will rise to give the money to the poor person. And afterward the poor person will also go to the grocery store to buy food. So what is the question?
Discussion on Answer
Let me sharpen it more with the example of rolling a die.
After a die is thrown, the result is deterministic.
Seemingly, human actions in the physical world are like throwing a die again and again in a way that changes the results, and if so, the world that contains human beings is not deterministic.
I mean in the physical world—days, continents, volcanoes, climate, and so on.
And if so, it comes out that the world is not deterministic.
In other words, if permission is given, how is everything foreseen?