RE: If free will was not real
July 31, 2016 at 4:40 am
(This post was last modified: July 31, 2016 at 4:42 am by bennyboy.)
(July 30, 2016 at 9:42 pm)Jehanne Wrote:(July 30, 2016 at 9:09 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Sure it's free. Nobody is either compelling me or preventing me from expressing my will according to my nature as a person.
Can you comprehend living in a world without language? Imagine that you could vocalize yet you could not speak, that you could hear but yet could not listen, that you could see yet you could not read or sign. Can you imagine living your life in such a world? I can't. But, yet, this is a world in which many individuals, normal today, will find themselves living in come tomorrow due to a condition called Broca's aphasia. Would you be able to express yourself if a stroke or traumatic injury occurred to your brain? Probably not, at least not to the degree that you can now. Point is that your mental state would be altered due to a change in your brain's state, which means that if "free will" exists than it must be an emergent property of your brain.
This list is nearly endless here; I could go on but I'll stop.
Sure. If you lack the ability to form and express intent, you cannot be said to have free will, or possibly even will.
It is my definition that will is the expression of the intent of a sentient agent. If that sentience is damaged, then the intent will be formed differently, or not at all, or the agent will no longer to manifest that intent in the world outside himself.
