Quote:(November 7, 2011 at 6:47 am)tackattack Wrote: Decisions do not have to be made in the conscious portion of the brain, to be choice.
True. To a point. What some call the subconscious, where our autonomous instincts live, will decide some things on it's own. For instance, make our hearts pump. This is automatic and not in conscious control.
Quote: Will directs what we focus on,
Not always. If I inadvertently and unknowingly place my hand on a hot stove, it is will that will move it. Will did not decide to focus on it and move it before the pain started.
Quote: thus limiting out window to the sum of consciousness to the active portion. I would say almsot every decision is made subconsciously prior to conscious recognition.
They work in harmony. Yes. Although we are not sure just what our subconscious is or how much it actually does.
Quote: What you're forgetting is that the consciousness and focus (ie. will) can feed back into the subconscious forcing another decision to be made.
Yes but for all we know, it is all the same consciousness but with two internal files making up the one.
Trying to split the two just confuses the issue. I KIS.
Quote:The mechanism of decision making is mechanical (gathering info, polling senses, fight or flight, etc.), but it's information and commands when necessary to decide (outside of instinctual reflex) come from abstract stimuli (both outside and inside the consciousness).
Ok.
Quote:I think it would be more appropriate to say non-instinctual decisions are initiated by many responces.
Ok.
Quote: One of which can be the foci of will.
Not usually. Will comes last based on the decision made. Will initiated the response the mind chose.
Will can be a factor to the decision only in eliminating the impossible or knowing what the limits of that will is.
In my burning hand scenario, will may have indicated to the hand that it could pull away and that flying away would be impossible.
Quote: But you'll probably go into all reactions are naturalistic and instictual since you seem to be a pure materialst from what I gather.

If our reactions are not naturalistic then they would be unnaturalistic.
I do not do the unnatural or the supernatural.
Regards
DL