Eric Hedin on Free Will and Morality in a Designed World

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Life Sciences, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Astronomy

4.3 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

Are we responsible for our choices? What can the laws of nature teach us about morality? On this classic episode of ID The Future from the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Eric Hedin, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Ball State University, to conclude a discussion about his two recent articles on suffering, free will, and morality in a designed world. Some scientists continue to argue that human free will is an illusion and that we have no more control over our choices than the decision to breathe. But this idea, known as determinism, flies in the face of our human experience. Dr. Hedin explains that far from being slaves to external forces, humans have a great latitude of freedom in the universe. In other words, the ball is in our court. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion.

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0:00.0	ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:11.9	How does the design of nature facilitate morality?
0:16.0	And do humans have freedom of choice, or is it merely an illusion?
0:20.3	Welcome to ID the Future. I'm
0:22.1	your host, Andrew McDermid. Today I'm concluding a conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, Professor
0:27.9	Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. In 2013, his
0:34.4	boundaries of science course at Ball State University came under attack by a national
0:39.5	atheist organization for allowing student discussions in class to consider evidence that nature
0:45.1	might not be all there is, and that our lives might have eternal meaning and value within a universe
0:50.5	specifically fitted for beings like us. Dr. Hedin is author of the recent book, Canceled Science,
0:57.4	What Some Atheists Don't Want You to See.
1:00.2	He speaks regularly at universities around the country
1:02.7	and writes on the evidence for intelligent design at evolutionnews.org.
1:07.5	Dr. Hedin, welcome back to the show.
1:09.7	Thank you, Andrew. It's good to be with you again. You've written two articles at EvolutionNews. Dr. Hedin, welcome back to the show. Thank you, Andrew. It's good to be with you again.
1:12.4	You've written two articles at EvolutionNews.org recently that have some interesting insights,
1:17.7	and they're also quite timely with regard to events happening in the world right now.
1:22.6	The problem of evil is an evergreen topic, of course, as there are plenty of examples throughout recorded history
1:28.4	of the evil humans have done to each other. At this moment in history, though, we are dealing
1:33.3	with the effects of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the worst attack of the people of Israel
1:38.5	since the Holocaust. Now, your first article is titled Thoughts of Evil on a Designed World,
1:45.1	and in a previous episode we discussed the two causes of suffering and what that suffering might mean in a
	...

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