Hi Dave Maybe you should ask Steve about his definition of the word determinism. If it should be equaled to Quality as determining factor behind choice, the D should be classed as undefined, neither hard, nor soft or even not determinism at all?
21 sep 2011 kl. 09.33 skrev [email protected]: > It remained for William James, Peirce's close friend, to assert that CHANCE > CAN PROVIDE unpredictable alternatives from which THE WILL CAN CHOOSE or > determine one alternative. James was the first thinker to enunciate clearly a > two-stage decision process, with CHANCE in a present time of random > alternatives, LEADING TO A CHOICE which selects one alternative and > transforms an equivocal ambiguous future into an unalterable determined past. > There are undetermined alternatives followed by adequately determined > choices."The stronghold of the determinist argument is the antipathy to the > idea of chance...This notion of alternative possibility, this admission that > any one of several things may come to pass is, after all, only a roundabout > name for CHANCE...What is meant by saying that my CHOICE of which way to walk > home after the lecture is ambiguous and matter of chance?...It means that > both Divinity Avenue and Oxford Street are called but only one, and that one > either one, shall b e > CHOSEN." (James, The Dilemma of Determinism, in The Will to Believe, 1897, > p.155) > > > We find that William James was the first of a dozen philosophers and > scientists who have proposed a two-stage model for free will and creativity. > The first stage involves chance that generates alternative possibilities for > action. The second stage is an adequately determined choice by the will. > First chance, then choice. First "free," then "will." > > > > JAMESIAN FREE WILL, THE TWO-STAGE MODEL OF WILLIAM JAMES > __________________________________________________________________BOB > DOYLEABSTRACT Research into two-stage models of ?free will? ? first ?free? > random generation of alternativepossibilities, followed by ?willed? > adequately determined decisions consistent with character, values, and > desires ? suggests that William James was in 1884 the first of a dozen > philosophers and scientists to propose such a two-stage model for free will. > We review the later work to establish James?s priority.By limiting chance to > the generation of alternative possibilities, James was the first to overcome > the standard two-part argument against free will, i.e., that the will is > either determined or random. James gave it elements of both, to establish > freedom but preserve responsibility. We show that James was influenced by > Darwin?s model of natural selection, as were most recent thinkers with a > two-stage model.In view of James?s famous decision to > make his first act of freedom a choice to believe that his will is free, it > is most fitting to celebrate James?s priority in the free will debates by > naming the two-stage model ? first chance, then choice -?Jamesian? free will. J-A Unquality, not the best or just bad choices, the possibility to do the wrong thing, straight against any intention to make situations better, is thus a sufficient evidence for free will. Parsifal, the stupid guy in Wagner's Ring, is by that the real hero. Fear is an emotion that is directly connected to the statistical possibility of things that can go bad. Fear is an evidence for humans to be able to look into the future and value the odds for different suspected consequences. Fear is pointing at non-events, things that have not happened, yet. Comicalness leads to laughter, another emotion when the possible future is transformed into something undefined and totally crazy and unexpected. If you can laugh then you know by heart that quality is far beyond you're most extreme expectations. Very very very seriousle Jan-Anders 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
