Debate: Gennady Stolyarov II Defends Emergent Free Will and Liberty

On Monday, May 13, 2024, at 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time, watch this debate, originally hosted on Andreas Xirtus’s channel, where Gennady Stolyarov II articulates the case that free will exists and that it is compatible with a materialistic worldview and is an emergent property of complex physical systems.
Read Mr. Stolyarov’s “A Rational Cosmology” at rationalargumentator.com/A_Rat...

[@charlie_painter]

I appreciate your contributions in defense of free will, Gennady! The first level of David's philosophy pyramid should be Metaphysics, for the reasons you mentioned. According to Leonard Peikoff, Philosophy is the study of fundamentals, and Free Will is axiomatic. Also Rand said philosophy is primarily inductive vs deductive, a la Aristotle (except for the three axiomatic concepts you mentioned). Consciousness isn't matter, but a biological process emerging from a delicate, complex organization of matter. Like the planet earth: we probably couldn't have carbon based life on any of the other planets in our solar system, or perhaps anywhere else in our galaxy, due to Earth's precise distance from our sun. The conditions here are just right for complex lifeforms to emerge. Consciousness exists regardless of whether we understand every circumstance that allows it to exist as such. Rather, it is the precondition for all understanding; we cannot get underneath it. Also free will (or free won't) and it's relation to morality and as the premise for an objective, legal/court system for existing in a (relatively) free society, could use more elaboration here. I would also be honored to be a guest on your channel to discuss music (as a self employed, improvising musician), Rand, Objectivism, and (objectivist) ethics/morality!

[@IAMdavidlong]

Props to you for actually knowing what Metaphysics is!
For those of you reading this who don't know: the word "Metaphysics" comes from the collection of writing of Aristotle, in particular his writing on epistemology, ontology and cosmology (the topics mentioned in the lower level of my pyramid of philosophical primacy) and it's called "Metaphysics" only because these writings are placed after his writings on physics. Aristotle didn't call it "metaphysics" he called them "first philosophy" which I think supports their placement at the base of the pyramid.
Thanks for watching and engaging!

[@GStolyarovII]

Thank you, Charlie! I appreciate your insightful comment. I took a bit of time to explore some of your musical performances on your UA-cam channel and am planning to listen to more. I would be happy to have you as a guest in a forthcoming Virtual Enlightenment Salon. We currently have openings for this coming Sunday, May 26, as well as for the next Sunday, June 2, both for 3 p.m. Central Time, 1 p.m. Pacific Time. We have a regular slot of 1 hour and 54 minutes with our partners at KGRA Radio, and we will have enough time to discuss both music and philosophy - and also perhaps to play a few of your recordings, if there are specific videos that you would like to feature.
Please let me know if either of the next two Sundays would work for you. If so, I think that this inter-disciplinary Salon will be of great interest to our viewers.
(I also sent you a message to this effect via your website contact form. Please feel free to reply to me via e-mail at [e-mail].)