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A Chaotic Approach To Free Will And Determinism, Gregory J. Till

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

This paper approaches this ancient problem by incorporating the new science of chaos. Chaos is the name given to the discovery that even "simple deterministic systems with only a few elements can generate random behavior" {Crutchfield et al., 46). Chaos shows that deterministic systems can act in ways which are not predictable while at the same time showing that many seemingly random phenomena are more explainable than once thought. By doing so, chaos alters the laws of causation upon which much of this debate rests and indicates that perhaps not all theory is against freedom of the will, despite Dr. …