A Dialogue On Free Will

posted Jan 8, 2008

In memory of Merab Mamardashvili

What do you think, says DJ Spinoza,
am I free?

You are free
if you think you are free,
says God.

Do you think I am free to think so?
            says DJ Spinoza.

Are you trying to do an infinite regress?
            says God.

No, I mean it,
            says DJ Spinoza.

You are free to think so
and you are free when you think so,
            says God.

And what happens when I am not thinking I am free?
            says DJ Spinoza.

Then you aren’t,
            says God.

What do you want me to do, says DJ Spinoza,
walk around, going “I’m free, I’m free, I’m free?” I can’t think anything else?

You can, says God.
It’s just that your other thoughts have to be built on it.

How do you build a thought on a thought?
            says DJ Spinoza.

In the same way as the sum of angles in a triangle being 180 degrees
follows from the idea of triangle,
            says God.

That’s beautiful, says DJ Spinoza.
But is beauty an indication of truth?