Unfortunately even some people who've spent the majority of their life studying philosophy still don't get that there's a difference between determinism and fatalism
The wording of the question doesn't use either of those terms, but it describes a fatalistic universe:
Oh no! A trolley problem is playing out before you. Do you actually have a choice in this situation? Or has everything been predetermined since the universe began?
It doesn't - "predetermined" implies deterministic, not fatalistic. It's completely possible to envision a deterministic universe in which choice exists. That's the premise of compatibilism.
I mean there's a limit to how much of a debate I want to have about this, but the wording is not simply that outcomes are predetermined, but that all outcomes have been predetermined since the universe began. That's a more extreme case than determinism, that's a description of fate.
And the question is agnostic about how that affects free will, that's what you're being asked your opinion on.
I think embedded in the word "choice" is an implication that the chooser could select either option. If the universe is predetermined they couldn't do otherwise, so they may experience a feeling of empowerment that they ultimately lack.
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I don't get the last one. How does a deterministic universe mean you're not really making a choice?
Is there some definition of choice that means "selecting by true randomness" as opposed "selecting based on personal conditions and history"?
Unfortunately even some people who've spent the majority of their life studying philosophy still don't get that there's a difference between determinism and fatalism
The wording of the question doesn't use either of those terms, but it describes a fatalistic universe:
:shrug-outta-hecks:
It doesn't - "predetermined" implies deterministic, not fatalistic. It's completely possible to envision a deterministic universe in which choice exists. That's the premise of compatibilism.
I mean there's a limit to how much of a debate I want to have about this, but the wording is not simply that outcomes are predetermined, but that all outcomes have been predetermined since the universe began. That's a more extreme case than determinism, that's a description of fate.
And the question is agnostic about how that affects free will, that's what you're being asked your opinion on.
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I think embedded in the word "choice" is an implication that the chooser could select either option. If the universe is predetermined they couldn't do otherwise, so they may experience a feeling of empowerment that they ultimately lack.