Rene Descartes Quotes
Neither divine grace nor natural knowledge ever diminishes freedom.
Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by Donald A. Cress, 4th ed., Hackett Publishing, 1998, p. 84.
Without free will, it would be futile for priests, ministers, rabbis or imams to preach morality to try and get people to behave in certain ways. The concept if sin and morality breaks down, and the clerics lost most of their power and influence. Cave was very concerned with the fact that a number of scientists were arguing that human behavior is caused by neurobiology, genetics and conditioning. They question whether an individual can be held accountable for his actions by the society that raised him, educated him, influenced him, and if the individual seemed aberrant relative to all that, it must be because of his particular neurology which enables him or prevents him from being influenced by the society, or allows him to be influenced by the "darker" aspects of society.
Under perfectly controlled conditions, man and every other organism behaves as it damn well pleases.
See {620073} for a broad classic philosophical view that is similar.
René Descartes was a French-born philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who spent a large portion of his working life in the Dutch Republic, initially serving the Dutch States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces. One of the most notable intellectual figures of the Dutch Golden Age, Descartes is also widely regarded as one of the founders of modern philosophy.
