Stathis and Brent, I'll respond to both at once since they are the same core objection:
"Why does feeling have to have "purpose"? " "I can't even conceive of what it would mean for them to be justified. " They have to be justified and have a purpose because that is what a deterministic universe would require. Otherwise I can just say that a deterministic universe includes libertarian free will, ghosts & goblins, whatever. What business does a feeling have being in a universe that is essentially a very sophisticated clock? Craig On Apr 4, 10:14 pm, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 12:01 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Your claim that it is impossible to feel in a deterministic universe > >> is unjustified. It's simply an idea you have taken a fancy to. > > > I don't claim that it is impossible to feel in a deterministic > > universe, but I suspect that is the case since there is no > > deterministic justification for or mechanism of 'feeling' of any kind. > > We would have to imagine that there is some mysterious deterministic > > purpose for it, otherwise there should be no possibility of feeling, > > and a deterministic universe should really be pretty parsimonious when > > it comes to allowing for mysterious purposes if it is to be logically > > consistent. So there is a completely logical basis for suspecting that > > feeling is impossible in a deterministic universe that has nothing to > > do with taking a fancy to the idea. I don't care one way or another, > > I'm only following the logic where it leads. What would determine that > > feeling should exist? > > > My claim is that the feeling of free will is a special case that goes > > beyond this because even the suggestion of free will is inconceivable > > in a universe defined a priori as being deterministic. It would be > > like saying we could imagine what the 500th dimension or a new primary > > color is like. > > Why does feeling have to have "purpose"? The universe as a whole does > not have "purpose" unless you believe in a certain kind of god. > > -- > Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
