Hi dmb, > Steve said: > Note how Putnam is taking the opposite position here from what I recently > quoted from the SEP with regard to the pragmatic consequences of free will > versus determinism. ..It would seem that intelligent educated people can > disagree on such matters without having to think that one is a "hack" or > "wildly incoherent," etc. > > dmb says: > I think you've got to ask yourself what's more plausible. Putnam disagrees > with the encyclopedia OR you're a hack who misreads things like the > encyclopedia.
Steve: I had thought that you checked out of this conversation, so I am surprised (not really) to see you jumping back in here (especially on such an inconsequential aspect of that post), but you may very well be right! Perhaps I have misread either the SEP or the Putnam article. Maybe you can help? See, I took the SEP article to be saying that it is James's position that there is no conflict between the practical consequences of possessing versus not possessing free will. Perhaps you can see where I get that from the quote below or show me where I misread it. SEP article on pragmatism: "When philosophers suppose that free will and determinism are in conflict, James responds that once we compare the practical consequences of determinism being true with the practical consequences of our possessing freedom of the will, we find that there is no conflict." Steve: Then I read Putnam below to be saying that James thought the consequences of one or the other being true were very serious... Putnam: "For James, the determinism or indeterminism alternative is what he called a genuine option, that is, both alternatives ...will have serious consequences in our lives." If these two quotes are actually saying the same thing, I'd be very interested to understand how that could be. Or are you are just doing a "Lucy" here? Best, Steve 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
