"Maverick Philosopher" has an excellent blog post discussing the logical problems with compatibilism. For those who have interacted with Reformed/Calvinistic theology and its apologists, one will realise how “spot-on” such an assessment is. The questions at the end are worth repeating here:
1. If determinism is true, then all our actions and thoughts are consequences of events and laws of nature in the remote past before we were born.2. We have no control over circumstances that existed in the remote past before we were born, nor do we have any control over the laws of nature.3. If A causes B, and we have no control over A, and A is sufficient for B, then we have no control over B.Therefore4. If determinism is true, then we have no control over our own actions and thoughts.Therefore, assuming that responsibility requires control,5. If determinism is true, then we are not responsible for anything we do or think.Therefore, assuming that freedom entails responsibility,6. If determinism is true, then we are not free, which is to say that every form of compatibilism is false.If you don't accept this argument, which premise will you reject?
For an LDS interaction with this issue, see Blake T. Ostler, The Problems of Theism and the Love of God (Greg Kofford Books, 2006).
