…and chaos shall set you free…

Michel J. Blais

pp. 243-258

in: Mathieu Marion, Robert S. Cohen (eds), Québec studies in the philosophy of science, part I, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

In the long tradition of pondering the possibility of human freedom, no single event has more influenced the basic framework within which freedom has been discussed than the advent of Newtonian physics. This elegant and powerful system, permitting not only the explanation but also the prediction both of planetary motion and of earthbound trajectories, set the tone of modern thought in many domains, and unequivocally so in the domain of ethical thought.