Tag: Atheism

“It has been asserted (by C.S. Lewis, for instance) that no determinist rationally can believe in determinism, for if determinism is true, his beliefs were caused, including his belief in determinism. The idea seems to be that the causes of belief, perhaps chemical happenings in the brain, might be unconnected with any reasons for thinking determinism true. They might be, but they need not be. The causes might ‘go through’ reasons and be effective only to the extent that they are good reasons.”

– Robert Nozick, “Reflections on Newcomb’s Paradox,” 1974

“If … [determinism] is true, then the intellectual or cognitive operations of its upholders, including their choice or decision to maintain the thesis, … are themselves only the effects of inexorable forces. But if this is so, why should the thesis … be accepted as valid or true?”

– Alan Gewirth, Reason and Morality, 1978

“If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motion of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to believe that my beliefs are true … and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.”

– J.B.S. Haldane, Possible Worlds, 1927