Does mathematical probabilism support the idea of determinism or free will?

[sidetrack]

There’s a lot of philosophical stuff that you can interpret from math fields like chaos theory,set theory,game theory,sentential logic etc but the stuff that you can interpret from probability is probably (pun not intended) a math field where ppl have developed more philosophical interpretations of b/c being a topic in such a commonly taught math field like statistics it’s something we are more exposed to.

Something I haven’t quite decided is if the state of different likelihoods in mathematical probability lean more in favor of determisism b/c it’s about what odds are not and in the favor of happening or lean more towards free will b/c it’s shows the independance from control that occurences have ?.

There’s likely stuff I’m not considering like how it’s a component of mathematical forecasting and it’s applications in something systems theory still _ …

 

[Razanir]

Personally, I think probability supports the existence of God and therefore free will. The universe is far too improbable for there to NOT be some sort of higher power

EDIT: Oh, and I’m minoring in statistics.

 

[Frankenfurter]

Statistics can express probable outcomes from systems where events are independent (free will) or where the events are themselves interdependent (determinism).

I think that actually statistics helps us understand that the real world is a combination of both. Any real system model contains both independent and events that are related to one another in complex, dynamic ways.

 

[Rete]

Probability does not support either free will or determinism. Regardless of your position on the matter, probability remains the same.

Free will means that there are events in the universe (including at least human decisions) which cannot possibly be determined based upon prior events. It means, even if you could somehow take into account all the events preceding that one, you still cannot determine the outcome.

The old-school determinism of the late 19th and early 20th century, however, is kaput. It was demolished by quantum physics since you cannot determine certain quantum events based upon prior events. The universe itself is nondeterministic, which puts to rest the idea of strict determinism in the classical sense.

That’s not to say that free will is proven true, but strict determinism is clearly false. The universe is nondeterministic. If that’s what you mean by your query, then I would point out that you are not really trying to adduce free will from probability, but nondeterminism. I still don’t think you can build a very good argument like that, however.

Whether nondeterminism and free will are the same thing is a matter of debate and semantics.