De schapen horen naar zijn stem. Neurowetenschap en het vermeende determinisme van de Dordtse Leerregels

Samenvatting

It is often argued that the Canons of Dordt are so profoundly deterministic that Calvinists shouldn’t blame neuroscience for its ‘biological reductionism’. This essay examines Turrettini’s refined analysis of freedom and concludes to a profound difference: whereas the dominant modern philosophical interpretation of neuroscience is indeed deeply reductionistic, Turrettini explicitly rejects biological reductionism, arguing that any naturalistic determination of the human will (e.g., biology) violates its essence by considering it a mixed entity of intellect and a free two-way capacity. Yet God’s determination of the will, so he argues, does respect the essence of the will. Thus, Reformed thought rejected the modern identification of freedom and autonomy.