Original essay: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/p/on-free-will

Dr. Jacobs gives an overview on free will, responding to a listener's question about compatibilism and predestination. You’ll get the broad brushstrokes on various positions on free will, from hard determinism to libertarianism. while explaining why the Eastern Church Fathers rejected compatibilism in favor of libertarian free will. This will be a good primer for an upcoming episode delving deeper into the topic.

All the links: X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

Dr. Jacobs reads his chapter in the second volume "Turning East" (publication TBD). You'll hear him discuss how he came to convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, starting from his growing years, doing LSD in late adolescence, his distaste for Western Christianity, and how he came to find and love Eastern patristics. All the links: X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:00) Intro (02:52) Early Life

(08:31) A Spiritual Awakening

(16:10) A Disappointing Investigation

(23:52) A philosophy of process

(36:00) Encountering the Eastern Church Fathers

(58:03) The Journey East

Dr. Jacobs tackles your philosophical and theological questions in today's episode. He answers audience comments on topics ranging from how humans participate with external reality beyond mere mental images, examines nature human nature versus shared traits, delve into divine foreknowledge via Jeremiah, discuss the doctrine of double effect and the trolley problem, and investigates classical perspectives on free will. From metaphysical realism to patristic traditions, this discussion offers fresh insights into age-old questions.

Stay tuned for our upcoming series on the problem of evil later this month.

All the links:

X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast

Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/

Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/

Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs

(00:01:55) The Most Important Question background

(00:03:03) Is Darwinism just nominalism applied to biology?

(00:26:39) How can materialism / utilitarianism co-exist with social engineering?

(00:38:23) How does realism apply to adoption?

(00:58:36) Participation vs. manifestation

(01:12:37) How could God know us before we existed?

(01:25:58) What is true freedom?

(01:40:24) The trolley problem and the doctrine of double effect

(01:44:49) Can realism and nominalism both be correct?

(01:52:00) What makes human nature unique from other shared traits?