RE: Worthy of worship, free will?
October 8, 2015 at 8:48 am
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2015 at 9:31 am by bennyboy.)
My problem with this view of free will is that it is selectively applied. EVERYTHING we experience is not as we experience it: love, beauty, self, Mom. All of these things are experienced by us as ideas-- so it should be no real revelation that free will is more an idea than a thing. What we experience as free will may not, on another level, be either free, or even the will of an independent agent. But so what? Free will is as free an expression of myself as Mom is an expression of ideas I have about that person and our relationship.
Nor does brain activity before a decision "comes out" make it any less free. It is my brain, my process, my experiences. . . in fact, it would be a paradox to say that you have to consciously be aware of all the things that lead to consciousness. It's also a contradiction to say that because a decision is inevitable, it is not free. Given what I am, why would I randomly make decisions? I wouldn't-- I'd simply choose whatever position (or snack) is most in accord with my personhood.
Nor does brain activity before a decision "comes out" make it any less free. It is my brain, my process, my experiences. . . in fact, it would be a paradox to say that you have to consciously be aware of all the things that lead to consciousness. It's also a contradiction to say that because a decision is inevitable, it is not free. Given what I am, why would I randomly make decisions? I wouldn't-- I'd simply choose whatever position (or snack) is most in accord with my personhood.