William Westmiller writes:
I don't recall where our last discussion of free will ended, but I vaguely recall describing my view as "mitigated determinism". The mitigating factor is sapient conceptual abstraction, whose content is not subject to the Laws of Nature, nor dictated by the mechanical characteristics of neurons.
But as I have always assumed, we don’t need no indeterminism no how. It is interesting that you must resort to a typical indeterministic refrain imagining stuff that “is not subject to the Laws of Nature.” Close readers of TSW will realize that we hypothesize no such thing or motion. All portions of the universe are subject to univironmental determinism (The scientific assumption that whatever happens to a portion of the universe is determined by the infinite matter in motion within and without). Whatever form abstractions take within the brain does not allow them to be “not subject to the Laws of Nature.” Sorry Bill, but “mitigated determinism” is an unmitigated disaster.