If the study of physics shows that nature is a closed system and it is, strictly speaking, a scientific fact that miracles and freedom are impossible, then it would seem that a theist could not do physics well. But what about the fact that there are and have been successful physicists who believe in God and freedom? Apparently theism did not keep George Lemaitre from discovering the big bang! If, on the other hand, one's ability to do physics is not adversely affected by theism etc., then the exclusion of miracles and freedom is not so much a scientific fact as as a philosophical inference--or perhaps an act of faith.
Here is a summary and comments on the essay Freedom and Resentment by PF Strawson. He makes some great points, and when he is wrong, it is in such a way as to clarify things a great deal. My non-deterministic position is much better thanks to having read this. I’ll summarize it in this post and respond in a later one. In a nutshell: PFS first argues that personal resentment that we may feel toward another for having failed to show goodwill toward us would have no problem coexisting with the conviction that determinism is true. Moral disapprobation, as an analog to resentment, is likewise capable of coexisting with deterministic convictions. In fact, it would seem nearly impossible for a normally-constituted person (i.e., a non-sociopath) to leave behind the web of moral convictions, even if that person is a determinist. In this way, by arguing that moral and determinist convictions can coexist in the same person, PFS undermines the libertarian argument ...
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