Lee , granted it is the I making the choice , but the question remains
whether it is doing so freely or bound by some factors. A man is
shouting at the top of his voice , but is he doing so bound by the
emotion of anger or freely as you so assert ? What in your view is
Freedom ? Do you feel emotions out of choice or do they engulf you
automatically ?

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Lee Douglas <[email protected]> wrote:
> Okay fair doo's then RP.
>
> No sir I see no contradiction here.
>
> My stance being that freedom of choice exists, if you make a choice
> under duress it is still you, the I, making the choice.
>
> On Aug 9, 1:30 pm, RP Singh <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Lee , I merely answered your question to Om , maybe I shouldn't have ,
>> but doesn't it contradict what you were then asserting. Let my beliefs
>> be for the moment and think of a reasonable answer.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 4:42 PM, Lee Douglas <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > hehe but according to you RP no desicions are free.
>>
>> > On Aug 9, 10:39 am, RP Singh <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> Decision taken under duress is not a free one , you couldn't have
>> >> chosen otherwise given your temperament.
>>
>> >> On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 2:58 PM, Lee Douglas <[email protected]> 
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > Yes fear is a great motivater, as is love I guess.
>>
>> >> > Although what I'm really talking about is decision.
>>
>> >> > If I am treatend with pain or death, do this or I'll cut off your
>> >> > toes, I may well do as I am being threatend to do, but the moment I
>> >> > make the desicion to comply, it is I that has made that desicion.  In
>> >> > effect I have choosen to do what I previously choose not to do.
>>
>> >> > On Aug 8, 10:10 pm, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> >> ...in other words Lee...fear of personal or other torture and/or
>> >> >> death.
>>
>> >> >> On Aug 8, 4:12 am, Lee Douglas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > Ahh then I see.  I do not belive that choice and free will are
>> >> >> > seperate things at all.
>>
>> >> >> > Let us look at the words.
>>
>> >> >> > Free will.
>>
>> >> >> > The ability to chose in acordance with your will.
>>
>> >> >> > On Aug 8, 11:47 am, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > Haven't you noticed trying to get from A to B and winding up at C? 
>> >> >> > > I
>> >> >> > > have. So far I have been going over some stuff by Sophocles.
>> >> >> > > Epictetus, Zola, Marx&Engels, Huxley and Skinner (Determinists) but
>> >> >> > > have to read Dostoyevsky and Hocking (Free Will). I think there is 
>> >> >> > > a
>> >> >> > > difference between choice and free will. I make choices all the 
>> >> >> > > time
>> >> >> > > but am not sure my will is really free.
>>
>> >> >> > > On Aug 8, 5:07 am, Lee Douglas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > > Ohh I disagree with this entirley Rigsy.
>>
>> >> >> > > > At the time the Minds says take action B, then we have made a 
>> >> >> > > > choice.
>> >> >> > > > I question the ability of things to force a desicion from us and 
>> >> >> > > > I'l
>> >> >> > > > ask once again is it possible for somebody to force anybody into
>> >> >> > > > makeing a choice that they do not want to?
>>
>> >> >> > > > On Aug 6, 2:22 pm, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > > > I disagree that we possess or always have free will at our 
>> >> >> > > > > disposal-
>> >> >> > > > > even the civil laws make distinctions. We are forced onto many 
>> >> >> > > > > paths
>> >> >> > > > > and decisions- softly or harshly.
>>
>> >> >> > > > > On Aug 5, 2:04 pm, Allan Heretic <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > You lays have free will no matter how you seeing it created. 
>> >> >> > > > > >  It is the consequences of those choices that can be a bitch,
>> >> >> > > > > > Allan
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > On 4 aug. 2011, at 17:48, paradox <[email protected]> 
>> >> >> > > > > > wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > > There are a number of approaches to this question, Jo; but 
>> >> >> > > > > > > essentially
>> >> >> > > > > > > and in summary (and i do a great injustice to a very 
>> >> >> > > > > > > powerful
>> >> >> > > > > > > philosophical school), the deterministic tradition 
>> >> >> > > > > > > suggests that since
>> >> >> > > > > > > we''re fundamentally bounded chemical systems immersed in 
>> >> >> > > > > > > a "sea" of
>> >> >> > > > > > > ever more elaborate chemical processes, regulated by 
>> >> >> > > > > > > immutable
>> >> >> > > > > > > (replicable and predictive) physical laws, and nothing 
>> >> >> > > > > > > else (which
>> >> >> > > > > > > takes you back to the mind/brain question), our actions 
>> >> >> > > > > > > are no more
>> >> >> > > > > > > than expressions of these chemical processes, constrained 
>> >> >> > > > > > > at an
>> >> >> > > > > > > aggregate level by universal physical laws. When we think 
>> >> >> > > > > > > we make
>> >> >> > > > > > > decisions based on choice, it is the mind "stroking" 
>> >> >> > > > > > > itself since, in
>> >> >> > > > > > > terms of "proximate" action, we know that our decisions 
>> >> >> > > > > > > are preceeded
>> >> >> > > > > > > in time by a neuro-electrcal "footprint" (interesting work 
>> >> >> > > > > > > by Benjamin
>> >> >> > > > > > > Libet, presented in his book "Mind Time"); and in terms of 
>> >> >> > > > > > > more
>> >> >> > > > > > > deliberative action, we are pretty certain to make the 
>> >> >> > > > > > > same decisions
>> >> >> > > > > > > over and over again given the same set of variables, since 
>> >> >> > > > > > > our
>> >> >> > > > > > > cognition is hard wired, and its operations are governed 
>> >> >> > > > > > > by the self
>> >> >> > > > > > > same chemical processes and physical laws. Hence the 
>> >> >> > > > > > > question: do we
>> >> >> > > > > > > have free will? and if we do, how much free will do we 
>> >> >> > > > > > > have?
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > > On Aug 2, 7:44 pm, Jo <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> >> > > > > > >> I don't understand how some can say we don't have free 
>> >> >> > > > > > >> will. You can
>> >> >> > > > > > >> choose to do anything you want at any given time. How is 
>> >> >> > > > > > >> that not free
>> >> >> > > > > > >> will?
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > >> On Aug 2, 12:51 pm, archytas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> "We have access to a technology that would have looked 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> like sorcery in
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> Descartes's day: the ability to peer inside someone's 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> head and read
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> their thoughts. Unfortunately, that doesn't take us any 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> nearer to
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> knowing whether they are sentient. "Even if you measure 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> brainwaves,
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> you can never know exactly what experience they 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> represent," says
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> psychologist Bruce Hood at the University of Bristol, 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> UK.  If
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> anything, brain scanning has undermined Descartes's 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> maxim. You, too,
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> might be a zombie. "I happen to be one myself," says 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> Stanford
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> University philosopher Paul Skokowski. "And so, even if 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> you don't
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> realise it, are you." Skokowski's assertion is based on 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> the belief,
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> particularly common among neuroscientists who study 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> brain scans, that
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> we do not have free will. There is no ghost in the 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> machine; our
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> actions are driven by brain states that lie entirely 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> beyond our
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> control. "I think, therefore I am" might be an illusion.
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> So, it may well be that you live in a computer 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> simulation in which you
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> are the only self-aware creature. I could well be a 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> zombie and so
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> could you. Have an interesting day." (from a recent New 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> Scientist)
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> We range over debates in free will and what it is to be 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> human. So far
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> we haven't established free will or even that we are not 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> merely
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> avatars in 'something else's game'.
>>
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> I wonder whether there are advantages in considering 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> ourselves as
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> creatures limited by programming and also capable of 
>> >> >> > > > > > >>> it?- Hide quoted text -
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