Date/Time
12/02/2026 (Thursday)
8.00 - 9.30 pm
Location
The Adelaide
Group Discussion
When we decide to do or not to do something, particularly when that something is out of our every day routine, we tend to think that our decision represents the free exercise of something called our “will”. We may subsequently feel that we were wrong to switch from diesel to EV, but it was our choice, made freely.
Our individual feelings on the free exercise of the will coincide with the laws by which we live: each of us is held responsible for what we do or do not do, good and bad, even to the point of writing our last “will” and testament. Could it be any other way?
And then – as a sort of philosophical validation – there are those branches of philosophy – particularly ethics and politics – which can only make sense if “free will” does indeed exist. Can so many philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle onwards, have been so wrong for so long?
But what does the empirical evidence say? Do the siren voices beyond the rocks of determinism have a case?
Bring along your favourite questions and answers on this topic.