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Re: "rise of china" and wst - 'free will' or 'agency'?
by Richard K. Moore
02 March 2001 15:04 UTC
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Title: Re: "rise of china" and wst - 'free will' or 'agency'?

I think we're mixing up 'free will' with 'agency'.

For example, let's assume that there is no free will - that all human behavior is subservient to psychological determinism.  We are still left with the question of whether history is determined more by agency or historical determinism.  'Agency' in this case would amount to the psychologically-determined actions of world leaders.  The agency vs historical-determinism debate would be a debate between which determinism is more powerful: psychological determinism or historical determinism.

On the other hand, if we assume there is free will, then the debate would be between the free choice of leaders, and historical determinism.

As I see it, the existence or not of free will is entirely irrelevant to the agency-determinism debate in the context of WSN.  From our perspective, it is the efficacy of agency that matters - not its internal mechanism.

make sense?
rkm


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