The Batlord

If you want me to give you equations that govern emotions, then even if they existed I don't know about them. But our models of the universe so far have shown that it is governed by mathematical laws, and not magic (magic being any force which governs the universe while contradicting natural laws which are fact rather than just descriptions of our current understanding of natural laws) -- Naturalism -- which means that anything is potentially predictable, assuming we had the right equations.

For this to not be true of emotions, then there would have to be a separate, non-mathematical, non-naturalistic mechanism which governed them (i.e. magic). So unless you believe that emotions are governed by some form of magic -- be it God, faeries, or Merlin -- then the only logical conclusion is that they are most likely governed by mathematical principles, making them predictable and unchangeable. And if the entire universe is also ruled by mathematical principles which would necessarily be governing every movement of every form of anything that exists (or even doesn't exist for all I know) then the situations which you find yourself in will always be the same, as will your reaction to them.

Granted, this stance is not one that can be 100% proven, anymore than the non-existence of God can be 100% proven, but since every observation and model of the world and the universe to date has shown that it operates naturalistically, and that any evidence to the contrary has so far been inconclusive at best, then the assumption should be that the universe operates naturalistically, until compelling evidence suggesting otherwise is introduced. Which would logically also include human action.

I like to call it Secular Calvinism. Not because there isn't already a word for a predetermined universe, but because "Secular Calvinism" amuses me.


A good thing to study on the subject would be incompatibalism vs.compatibalism.

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