Einstein on Free Will

Dave_L

I found this interesting. Einstein basically says the same thing the Westminster and London Baptist Confessions said nearly 400 years ago about free will in Chapter 3:1. I don't think Einstein got it from scripture, but through logic. But scripture is logical when understood properly.

In a 1929 interview, when the argument about quantum mechanics “uncertainty” was at its height, Einstein modestly said: “I claim credit for nothing”, explaining that:

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” [Einstein: The Life and Times, Ronald W. Clark, Page 422.]

Though theologians have mostly believed that people choose and are morally responsible for their actions, Einstein agreed with medieval philosopher Baruch Spinoza that one’s actions, and even one’s thoughts, are determined by natural laws of causality.

Spinoza said:

“In the mind there is no absolute or free will;
but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause,
which has also been determined by another cause,
and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.”

Thus, in 1932 Einstein told the Spinoza society:

“Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free
but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.”

Einstein’s belief in causal determinism seemed to him both scientifically and philosophically incompatible with the concept of human free will. In a 1932 speech entitled ‘My Credo’, Einstein briefly explained his deterministic ideology:

“I do not believe in freedom of the will. Schopenhauer’s words: ‘Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills’ accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of freedom of will preserves me from taking too seriously myself and my fellow men as acting and deciding individuals and from losing my temper.”

Einstein’s 1931 essay “The World As I See It” contains this similar passage:

“In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever.
Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with
inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, that “a man can do as he will, but not
will as he will,” has been an inspiration to me since my youth, and a continual
consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships
of life, my own and others’. This feeling mercifully mitigates the sense of
responsibility which so easily becomes paralyzing, and it prevents us from taking
ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in
which humor, above all, has its due place.”

But despite his deterministic philosophy and science, Einstein realized that people’s belief in free will is pragmatically necessary for a civilized society; that it causes them to take responsibility for their actions, and enables society to regulate such actions.* So he said:

“I am compelled to act as if free will existed, because if I wish to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly. . . I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime, but I prefer not to take tea with him.”*

I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.”

Albert Einstein (1954)

[Deleted User]

The above appears to be speaking about something different with the term "free will" than what is commonly meant by most folks when they speak of "free will" or "free choice" in a Biblical context.

Of course, man's will to do whatever or choice to do whatever is not "free" in the sense of being totally isolated in a vacuum and independent of anything and everything. Circumstances, information, other people's sayings and doings, cultural background, etc all have bearing and some influence on a person's will or choice.

BUT that is not what "free will" / "free choice" is about in the context of Scripture when I speak of "free will" or "free choice". Man is free and also responsible to decide and choose between the various possibilities with which he may be confronted or presented. It is NOT the circumstance - or to use the term "cause" - which makes the and determines the choice of a person.

For example, in a certain circumstance I am confronted with (a) a person who urges me to overstep a command in Scripture and commit a sin, and (b) a person who urges me to rather obey Scripture. Two "causes" that are contrary to each other ... now, are these persons the ones who will and choose what I then actually do, or am I the one who is free to decide either one?

Whichever choice I make, I am FREE to chose between the two options, and I am held responsible for this choice. My choice and decision is NOT forced on me. God does NOT make me sin, nor does God make me obey Him. With my own will, I must chose and decide and subsequently God holds me responsible for my choice.

C Mc

@Dave_L said:
I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.”

Albert Einstein (1954)

Classical Arminianism emphasizes human free will in order to protect God’s goodness and clarify human responsibility for sin. But the free will decision to accept God’s gift is itself empowered by God’s grace. Nothing happens in the process of salvation apart from God. True faith is always accompanied by good works, but such works are not a part of faith or a condition of justification. Salvation is a gift of God.

SOURCE FOR FURTHER READING:

--Clark Pinnock, “From Augustine to Arminius: A Pilgrimage in Theology,” in The Grace of God and the Will of Man (ed. Clark Pinnock; Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1989).

Dave_L

@C_M_ said:

@Dave_L said:
I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.”

Albert Einstein (1954)

Classical Arminianism emphasizes human free will in order to protect God’s goodness and clarify human responsibility for sin. But the free will decision to accept God’s gift is itself empowered by God’s grace. Nothing happens in the process of salvation apart from God. True faith is always accompanied by good works, but such works are not a part of faith or a condition of justification. Salvation is a gift of God.

SOURCE FOR FURTHER READING:

--Clark Pinnock, “From Augustine to Arminius: A Pilgrimage in Theology,” in The Grace of God and the Will of Man (ed. Clark Pinnock; Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1989).

I agree with your assessment. But I clarify that the will always reacts to the reasons God ordained and provided for it to react to.

Dave_L

@Wolfgang said:
The above appears to be speaking about something different with the term "free will" than what is commonly meant by most folks when they speak of "free will" or "free choice" in a Biblical context.

Of course, man's will to do whatever or choice to do whatever is not "free" in the sense of being totally isolated in a vacuum and independent of anything and everything. Circumstances, information, other people's sayings and doings, cultural background, etc all have bearing and some influence on a person's will or choice.

BUT that is not what "free will" / "free choice" is about in the context of Scripture when I speak of "free will" or "free choice". Man is free and also responsible to decide and choose between the various possibilities with which he may be confronted or presented. It is NOT the circumstance - or to use the term "cause" - which makes the and determines the choice of a person.

For example, in a certain circumstance I am confronted with (a) a person who urges me to overstep a command in Scripture and commit a sin, and (b) a person who urges me to rather obey Scripture. Two "causes" that are contrary to each other ... now, are these persons the ones who will and choose what I then actually do, or am I the one who is free to decide either one?

Whichever choice I make, I am FREE to chose between the two options, and I am held responsible for this choice. My choice and decision is NOT forced on me. God does NOT make me sin, nor does God make me obey Him. With my own will, I must chose and decide and subsequently God holds me responsible for my choice.

I agree with your take on the matter. But every choice is for a reason, and God determines our will by the reasons he sends to shape our choices. We want to choose this or that for a specific reason.