The Philosophy Now Forum

Lacewing,

Currents, waves, vibrations, movement... in all different forms (air, water, sound, energy, etc.). Flows and shifts that affect other things on the smallest scale to the largest.

I think these 'ripples' are observable.

I may not use scientific language, but I'm doing my best to describe the concepts I'm referring to.

Okay, outside of metaphorical language, I would say they are factors that contribute to reality. And that they do affect "other things" on different scales, including each other. Are you arguing that these factors are determined?

Well, we don't really 'arrive' anywhere or remain rigid... everything is continually in flux and motion.

That doesn't answer my question. Also, I don't understand your reason for certainty. Let me reword my question: If possibility is "ever-shifting," how does the possibility that occurs, occur?

The repetitive shapes (like spirals), structures, forms, and mathematical properties throughout the Universe.

Are you saying these patterns are causal? How do these structures impact determinism & free will?

Considering that everything is in motion, it seems more like music or language... rather than some sort of fixed and definitive structure. I think the latter is a human 'need' rather than what is observable.

I don't see constant motion as a language or music. If that is the case, it's just the way that things are. I don't see why that gives rise to conclusions about determinism or free will as a dichotomy. I don't believe there's anything wrong with you seeing things in those metaphors, but using them to accurately describe determinism and free will requires straightforward language — unless you can do so with the necessary precision.

With the assistance of Microsoft Copilot, I distilled my OP into an axiomatic-style formula:

Apparent Determination + Phenomenological Agency ≈ Synchronicity

Apparent Determination refers to external events that appear to be guided, structured, and meaningful. Phenomenological Agency refers to the experience of feeling agency. And Synchronicity refers to Carl Jung's definition:

Carl Jung described synchronicity as: the simultaneous occurrence of inner psychological states and outer physical events that appear meaningfully related, yet have no discoverable causal connection.

Within that approximate, experiential formula, determination and agency coexist through (the occurrence of) synchronicity.

Update to post: Expanding on Jung's definition, I would add that there is a causal connection: orientation. Orientation does not cause the external event to occur; it creates the disposition through which the event can become a synchronicity.

Fanman wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:46 am Are you arguing that these factors are determined?

No.

Fanman wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:46 amI don't believe there's anything wrong with you seeing things in those metaphors, but using them to accurately describe determinism and free will requires straightforward language — unless you can do so with the necessary precision.

Then you carry on with your language and precision.

You acknowledged this in your OP...

Based on these factors, one possible explanation is that we live in a system that is capable of accommodating all three.

My point was that there is much in play (in whatever way it can be described), and it's observable.