Expert: Marco - 11/17/2010

Question
Hello. I am a Catholic studying philosophy, and lately I'm trying to understand the nature of free will. Free will is of course a basic Christian teaching, but doesn't it violate the law of conservation of energy? How can we have free will if there is no energy added when we will something? Thanks.

Answer
Dear Alfredo,

first of all you must understand that the law of conservation of energy is a physical law which applies only to specific kind of physical energies, such as kinetic energy, termal energy, electromagnetic energy, etc.
The laws of physics are mathematical equations which define exactly what kinds of energy exist; the law of conservation of energy is a mathematical theorem, consequence of the laws of physics, and it applies only the physical energy.
Free wil is a psychical property, and the laws of physics contain no kinds of psychical energy.
Actually, every psychical experience trascends the laws of physics; you can find a detailed discussion of this in the following site:

http://xoomer.alice.it/fedeescienza/englishnf.html

I think that faith cannot come only from logic, because to have faith in God means to trust and love God.
Logics and science however can prove the existence of our soul and the existence of  God and that there are many rational arguments strongly supporting the christian faith.
The explanation of these aguments is rather long and Allexperts allows only to give short answers. You can find such arguments  in the site above, where  I analyse the incongruencies of the materialistic conception of the mind, on the basis of our present scientific knowledges about brain and matter.
This analysis points out how the laws of physics  prove that the   brain cannot generate consciousness, which existence implies  the presence in man of a unbiological/unmaterial element. The problem of consciousness is then strictly connected to the one of the existence of the soul and, consequently, the existence of God.
In the first article entitled “Mind and brain...” you can find a general discussion of the mind and brain problem from a scientific point of view.
In the second article entitled “Scientific contraddictions in materialism”
you  can find an explanation of the fundamental inconsistencies of  the  typical arguments used by materialists, such as the concept of emergent, macroscopic or holist property, complexity, information, etc.
In the section called “FAQ: answers to  visitors' questions” you can find the answer to many typical questions, such as "Are there any scientifically proved miracles?", "Does the existence of the universe imply the existence of God?", "Can science explain God?", "Can science establish which is the true religion?", "Can science explain consciousness in the future?", and many others.

I hope this may help,

please ask again if you should need some clarifications,

Your brother in Christ,

Marco