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Dialogue between you and an imaginary Socrates

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Create a dialogue between you and an imaginary Socrates. Your dialogue should address the following questions:

- What is the definition of determinism?
- What is the definition of free will?
- Do you agree that every event has an explanatory cause?
- How do you define event?
- How do you define explanatory cause?
- Do you agree that every human choice or event has an explanatory cause?
- How do you define human choice? How do you define human event? Are they different?
- Do you agree that to have an explanatory cause is to not be free?
- How do you define free?
- Do you think that free will and determinism can coexist in any way?
- Is it possible to have external determinism and internal free will?

Additional things to include along with references:
- Use of the Socratic Method to form all conclusions (this will be achieved by the question and answer dialogue between you and the imaginary Socrates).

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Solution Summary

The expert examines the dialogue between you and an imaginary socrates. The definition of free will is provided.

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For starters, since this assignment requires, "use of the Socratic Method to form all conclusions," the following links contain information about this practice of reasoning for future reference:

- The Socratic Method | University of Chicago Law School
www.law.uchicago.edu/prospectives/lifeofthemind/socraticmethod
- The Socratic Method - Stanford University
www.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/socratic_method.pdf

According to the University of Chicago (see link above), "Socrates engaged in questioning of his students in an unending search for truth. He sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. This became known as the Socratic Method, and may be Socrates' most enduring contribution to philosophy."

- What is the definition of determinism?

Would you agree that most English words are self-evident? The word, "determinism" seems like it would have to do with the art of 'determination,' which is linked to 'determine(d)' as governing influence, and control. Yet, determinism is a hypothesis or theory about causation in that everything has a "cause" that produces an "effect." Have you ever heard of, "The Butterfly Effect?"

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [definition]:
"Causal determinism is, roughly speaking, the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature. The idea is ancient, but first became subject to clarification and mathematical analysis in the eighteenth century. Determinism is deeply connected with our understanding of the physical sciences and their explanatory ambitions, on the one hand, and with our views about human free action on the other. In both of ...

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