PHILOSOPHERS' CORNER

An Anti-Determinist Argument

We generally think that the past is settled and nothing we do in the present can change it (barring time travel or backwards causation). In other words, it seems irrational to direct our efforts toward trying to affect the past. For example, if an organism evolved a mutation that caused it to spend time and energy trying to influence the past instead of the future, it's reasonable to assume that the organism wouldn't survive very long. So far, so good.