Aren't Determinism and Free Will indiscernible from the mortal perspective?

Question

The title sort of says it all.

Aren't Determinism and Free Will indiscernible from the mortal perspective?

Under Determinism if I don't know what the plan is then whatever I do is was and always will be whatever I was always going to do and have done, so it makes no difference. From my perspective (determined or not) I'm making choices, though potentially some entity somewhere with enough data could theoretically predict my choices with absolute precision.

I found a question that I believe hits on the same nerve however I'm specifically looking for answers that express ways that we might probe reality in order to separate the two, and not so much wanting to decide if such an idea as "freedom" matters or not.

I recently found a name for the running theory I have about the "entity with enough data" model, Laplace's Demon.

Answer 1

Your point, "Determinism and free will are not discernible from the mortal perspective" is indeed the third antinomy (paradox) of Kant. According to Kant, human capacity for knowledge is innately limited by his 12 categories. The categories function like a fish net. Those that are caught by the net constitute human knowledge, and those that go though the net are something we will never know. Kant calls those uncapturable things transcendental (or Ding an Sich). According to Kant, if we try to gain the knowledge of transcendental things, we will always arrive at a contradiction, thus impossible is the knowledge of the transcendental stuff. Kant proposes that there are four such transcendental objects, the third of which is free will. Our sense of free will could be like a rock thinking that it is flying when I throw it to the air.

Answer 2

This response assumes you to be asking whether or not a human is able to experientially distinguish between a deterministic universe devoid of free will and a non-deterministic one in which free will exists.

Given only one of these options is likely to be true (ignoring other options for a moment), and given the fact we don't know for sure which is true, it seems any means by which we could arrive at anywhere close to discernment will incorporate some degree of imagination.

If a person can suspend judgement for a moment as to which 'reality' is true - a difficult task - one can begin to experience life more and more as the 'ride', the inevitable unravelling of events, that would ensue from purely deterministic processes.

This is where meditation can prove of use. Meditation equips a person - via the diminishment of external stimuli - to pay more attention to the way thoughts arise 'out of nowhere'. The meditative experience can then be carried over into the 'day-to-day' experience via mindfulness techniques, which enable a person to retain this sense of being 'separate from the thought', 'separate from the emotion'. This in turn provides insight as to how, when we are not aware of this separation, our behaviour is largely (if not always) causally determined by mental phenomena such as thoughts, emotions, desires and so on (This likely goes some way to explaining Buddhism's adherence to a deterministic world view).

Once this is achieved, it is far easier to begin to achieve the discernment about which you enquire; between the aforementioned 'ride' (the deterministic experience) and the typical self-directed/controlled experience.

The ramifications of this discernment can permeate a person's daily life quite profoundly. The mindfulness (essentially an increased awareness of one's mental processes), equips us to exert greater control over the way we react to stimuli, and to view our own behaviour (and therefore the behaviour of others) without condemnation. It becomes easier too, to view each other as unique embodiments of predetermined circumstance equally deserving of compassion and respect, to shed notions of virtue and immorality, and to be far more grateful for our relative good fortune.

For the meditation-averse, this thought experiment can provide a quick, accessible and powerful experience of deterministic mental processes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjD4hfrDsg).

Answer 3

Both determinism and free will are terms. A term is defined as

a word or phrase used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study.

Indiscernible is defined as

impossible to see or clearly distinguish.

So respectfully your question, "Aren't Determinism and Free Will indiscernible from the mortal perspective?" seems unreasonable in light of the fact that you articulate the question which suggests that you grasp the terms - the terms are discernible to you.

Free will is said to be considered by Aristotle well over 2,400 years ago. Wikipedia has excellent information on these terms/concepts. See Free will and Determinism.