In his book 'Our Existence Part 1 : The Nature and Origin of Physical Matter", Christophe Finipolscie explores a major distinction between the alternate philosophies of Existence - relating to 'Causality'. One phrase he gives us is this:-
"Thought is the only thing that can cause Matter/Energy to deviate from its inevitable chemical path."
I love this quote, but I'm intrigued to see whether you feel this might be true?
To provide a context, Finipolscie argues that ….
Materialism and Determinism are firmly based on the strict scientific principle that "A single precise starting point can only have one precise outcome'. From this, many senior physicists will talk about the inevitability of activity within matter/energy. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that this is true within Matter/Energy, and it is a prime reason why science is able to use mathematics to define its theories.
All alternate viewpoints, to varying degrees, suggest that true change is possible, and therefore outcomes are not inevitable. Indeed, this is the basis of Free Will - on which we structure the laws of our society.
Finipolscie argues that true/fundamental change either requires
Spontaneity - actions without a prior cause
Randomness - actions where more than one outcome is possible
ie. the opposites of cause & effect.
He is effectively placing the old philosophical debate on a scientific footing.
While he acknowledges that the easiest examples of spontaneity or randomness are potentially found in Thought, he also he provides a series of scientific findings from the past 50 years or so, which suggest that randomness or spontaneity may truly be occurring - although they seem rare events in the purely physical rather than mental realm.
Do you feel that the old philosophical debate is still valid?