***

Imagine, for the sake of illustration, a cue ball in a game of billiards. The cue ball moves across the table with a constant speed and direction until it collides with another ball. Some of the momentum of the cue ball is transferred to the object ball, which then moves away. The object ball, hitherto motionless, did nothing to stimulate its own motion. It was merely the passive target of the cue ball’s impact, but by virtue (”virtue” being an old word meaning force or power) of the cue ball’s motion, it was launched into motion itself, and so we blame the cue ball entirely for the motion of the object ball.

This passive model of causality is a victim’s model, and has come to be known as the concept of determinism: namely, that every event is caused by a prior action which wholly explains the event. The passivity of the model is one of the reasons determinism comes in for criticism, since it seems to rob every action it explains of any intentionality or purpose. While it seems to offer the promise of control (supposedly, you can fully determine the flight of the object ball by aiming the cue ball appropriately), in fact, the ability to aim the cue ball is not free. Determinism allows only one possible aim: the aim that is determined by its antecedent causes. There is no free action in a deterministic system.

John Valley (2008)
A Theory of Freedom


For as long as I can remember myself, I have been preoccupied with the reoccurring themes of freedom, choice and agency - issues that I have devoted endless hours of fruitless pondering, issues that have caused me quite a great deal of emotional distress...

Not so long ago I stumbled upon A Philosophy of Choice that brings me right to the doorsteps of probability and chaos. I'm not sure how much of a light these chapters are going to shed on my own personal riddles, but at least this is some starting point...