MugaSofer comments on By Which It May Be Judged - LessWrong

35 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 December 2012 04:26AM

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Comment author: MugaSofer 15 December 2012 03:23:14PM -1 points [-]

Most people making that argument, in my experience, believe that for free will to be truly "free" God cannot have decided (or even predicted, for some people) their actions in advance. Of course, these people are confused about the nature of free will.

If you could show me a link to Plantinga conceding, that might help clear this up, but I'm guessing Mackie's argument (or something else) dissolved his confusion on the topic. If we had access to someone who actually believes this, we could test it ... anyone want to trawl through some theist corner of the web?

Unless I'm misunderstanding your claim, of course; I don't believe I've actually read Mackie's work. I'm going to go see if I can find it free online now.

Comment author: BerryPick6 15 December 2012 03:35:27PM *  0 points [-]

Maybe I have gotten mixed up and it was Mackie who conceded to Plantinga? Unfortunately, I can't really check at the moment. Besides, I don't really disagree with what you said about most people who are making that particular argument.

Comment author: MugaSofer 15 December 2012 04:06:29PM 0 points [-]

I don't really disagree with what you said about most people who are making that particular argument.

Fair enough.

Maybe I have gotten mixed up and it was Mackie who conceded to Plantinga? Unfortunately, I can't really check at the moment

Well, having looked into it, it appears that Plantinga wasn't a compatibilist, while Mackie was. Their respective arguments assume their favored version of free will. Wikipedia thinks that Plantinga's arguments are generally agreed to be valid if* you grant incompatibilism, which is a big if; the LW consensus seems to be compatibilist for obvious reasons. I can't find anything on either of them conceding, I'm afraid.