This is a section from my book review of Watchmen, dealing with free will and determinism:
The subject of free will and determinism are most apparent in the story of Dr. Manhattan. He is able to see, manipulate, and control all atomic matter; thus giving him god-like powers and even the ability to see the future. However this change causes Dr. Manhattan to lose touch with his humanity, and there is an entire chapter devoted to one of the character trying to convince Dr. Manhattan that human life is worth saving. He sums up his lengthy explanation of the meaninglessness of human life as such: “I read atoms, Laurie. I see the ancient spectacle that birthed the rubble. Beside this, human life is brief and mundane.”
Through out his debate with the character, Laurie, Dr. Manhattan also sees what “humans” call the “future” and says what is going to happen in the argument before either of them says it. This of course is rather frustrating to Laurie and she tells Dr. Manhattan in anger that she can’t see the future, where then he replies to her that: “There is no future. There is no past. Time is simultaneously an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.” Determinism then pushes its way into the argument as Laurie asks Dr. Manhattan that if he can see the future, why is he sometime surprised and why can’t he do anything about the millions of deaths that he foresaw, he replies that everything is preordained, even his responses. In anger Laurie yells: “The most powerful thing in the universe and you’re just a puppet following a script?” Dr. Manhattan replies in chilling support of determinism: “We are all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings.”
In my paper I argue that Dr. Manhattan is "supporting" if you will, determinism over that of the alternative view of predistination saying:
Dr. Manhattan is in an effect proving the philosophical idea of determinism to be true. Determinism is the belief that everything that happens everywhere is caused, thus predetermined, and that belief is a direct enemy, so to speak, of free will. Some may argue that Dr. Manhattan is not proving determinism true, but instead proving its close relative, predestination to be true. Predestination differs from determinism in that it is the view that no matter what you do, the future is still going to be the same. While this may seem similar to determinism, the key difference lies in the phrase “what you do.” Predestination says that you are still able to make your own actions in the present, but they will inexorably lead to the same future, while determinism states that you’re actions and decisions in the past and present are inevitable, therefore giving you know true free will. The deterministic view fits best with Dr. Manhattan as he says that there is no past, present, or future, and due to human’s limited understanding of time we can not grasp the idea that all our actions and thoughts are already determined which is why he can say them before they actually occur.
What do you think?
The subject of free will and determinism are most apparent in the story of Dr. Manhattan. He is able to see, manipulate, and control all atomic matter; thus giving him god-like powers and even the ability to see the future. However this change causes Dr. Manhattan to lose touch with his humanity, and there is an entire chapter devoted to one of the character trying to convince Dr. Manhattan that human life is worth saving. He sums up his lengthy explanation of the meaninglessness of human life as such: “I read atoms, Laurie. I see the ancient spectacle that birthed the rubble. Beside this, human life is brief and mundane.”
Through out his debate with the character, Laurie, Dr. Manhattan also sees what “humans” call the “future” and says what is going to happen in the argument before either of them says it. This of course is rather frustrating to Laurie and she tells Dr. Manhattan in anger that she can’t see the future, where then he replies to her that: “There is no future. There is no past. Time is simultaneously an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.” Determinism then pushes its way into the argument as Laurie asks Dr. Manhattan that if he can see the future, why is he sometime surprised and why can’t he do anything about the millions of deaths that he foresaw, he replies that everything is preordained, even his responses. In anger Laurie yells: “The most powerful thing in the universe and you’re just a puppet following a script?” Dr. Manhattan replies in chilling support of determinism: “We are all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings.”
In my paper I argue that Dr. Manhattan is "supporting" if you will, determinism over that of the alternative view of predistination saying:
Dr. Manhattan is in an effect proving the philosophical idea of determinism to be true. Determinism is the belief that everything that happens everywhere is caused, thus predetermined, and that belief is a direct enemy, so to speak, of free will. Some may argue that Dr. Manhattan is not proving determinism true, but instead proving its close relative, predestination to be true. Predestination differs from determinism in that it is the view that no matter what you do, the future is still going to be the same. While this may seem similar to determinism, the key difference lies in the phrase “what you do.” Predestination says that you are still able to make your own actions in the present, but they will inexorably lead to the same future, while determinism states that you’re actions and decisions in the past and present are inevitable, therefore giving you know true free will. The deterministic view fits best with Dr. Manhattan as he says that there is no past, present, or future, and due to human’s limited understanding of time we can not grasp the idea that all our actions and thoughts are already determined which is why he can say them before they actually occur.
What do you think?
posted by BradyJVK at 6:02 PM
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