On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 12:27 AM, Michael R. Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > Ayn Rand and her Objectivists - who, in Bob's terms, attempt to tame DQ by > making it as SQ as possible - have a very handy tool for looking at these > hoary concepts, like free will: ask yourself, what in reality (which > includes our relation to it) gives rise to the concept? Why is it needed in > order to understand something? > > It's a very useful "razor." > > Free will seems to arise to distinguish how our consciousness operate as > opposed to the more mechanical sorts of causation, as with Aristotle's > moving cause.
But does it really do any explanatory work with regard to "how our conscious operate[s]"? Or does it just propose un uncaused causer that itself needs explanation? Sure, we make conscious decisions upon deliberation, but what does it mean to say that not only do we will certain intentions but that further that willing is "free"? Einstein: "Honestly, I cannot understand what people mean when they talk about the freedom of the human will. I have a feeling, for instance, that I will something or other; but what relation this has with freedom I cannot understand at all. I feel that I will to light my pipe and I do it; but how can I connect this up with the idea of freedom? What is behind the act of willing to light the pipe? Another act of willing? Schopenhauer once said: Der Mensch kann was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will (Man can do what he will but he cannot will what he wills)." (Planck, M. Where is Science Going?, p. 201) Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
