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A History of Ideas: The Free Will Defence

Harry Shearer on the Free Will Defence

In a world beset by evils from human cruelty, to natural disasters, to daytime TV, how can there be an omnipotent, omniscient, caring God? This is the problem that the Free Will Defence aims to counter. Yes, God created the world and humans, but gave us free will so that we would be more than mere puppets. The only snag with free will is that is opens the door to humans committing evil acts. Is that a fair price to pay?

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Here’s the whole episode from A History of Ideas – Theologian Giles Fraser on Religious Freedom

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A History of Ideas: The Libet Experiments and Free Will

Do we really have free will, or is it an illusion? Benjamin Libet’s neuro-science experiments seemed to indicate that human actions were taken before the conscious decision to take them was made.