On Sep 18, 12:18 pm, Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But it dodges the idea that your "will" is caused by other factors.
Yes it dodges the idea, but that is simply an idea. What I’m objecting to here is discarding direct experience for ideas. Now once ideas are backed up by what I judge to be more evidence than my direct experience is backed up by self evidence and other evidence, then I will consider the idea more likely to be true than my direct experience. In addition it is possible for both ideas to be correct and each one to be more useful in a given situation. This is the case with general relativity. It is equally true, according to general relativity, to that the earth is stationary (at any given moment) and everything else is moving. With the gravity inertia equivalence this could actually be the case. Does it make sense to compute the distance of an actual trip that was taken between two points on the surface of the earth with the distance that the earth traveled included? I think, probably not in most cases that we actually would see. It could be true that the human will is the prime mover in my life (at any given moment) and at other moments it is totally determined by outside forces. Douglas Hofstadter makes up a simplified materialistic model in which this is the case in his "I Am a Strange Loop." On the other hand I don't think this his book explains consciousness to me, but it does explain some other things nicely. Furthermore, I think choosing to believe in free will is healthy and may actually cause one to have a modicum of free will if we don’t have some free will already. And, if we have a degree of free will, not believing that we do, could cause us not to exercise it. On Sep 18, 12:18 pm, Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <<Though that sounds impossible it is in line with the empirical > evidence of my direct experience.>> > > But it dodges the idea that your "will" is caused by other factors. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" 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/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
