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On Free Will and Determinism
When beliefs based on direct experience are replaced by a scientific outlook, some former views require revision, notwithstanding the fact that practical implications of this experience may be viable. Thus, the heliocentric planetary system being substituted for the geocentric one, the sophisticated constructs of epicycles and deferents became superfluous though sun’s perceptible course in the sky preserved its common meaning. In the long and penetrating discussion on free will and determinism, admonitions are continuously evoked that our moral and legal system would collapse if natural causality is extended to human volition. This opinion may be impugned even if the radical form of determinism is accepted. However, an according transformation of attitude to agents’ behavior, shift of accents and update of relevant terms and concepts are on the agenda.
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