RE: Do you control what you believe?
October 11, 2012 at 7:55 pm
(This post was last modified: October 11, 2012 at 7:56 pm by Whateverist.)
(October 11, 2012 at 4:01 pm)Aroura Wrote: No, accepting the thought was hard, but it wasn't choice.
Was healing your broken arm hard? Did you feel actively involved in that? Probably not. You didn't stress it and you protected it so the autonomic processes could be effective. But it would be odd for you to take responsibility for the result. No deliberate action or decision on your part was involved. So I wonder if you think we ever truly "take action" or "decide" anything? Perhaps you imagine that all this is taking place and we're just weaving a story that makes us the main character in a story we aren't ourselves writing.
Personally I think both are true. I think there is decision making and volition apart from those I consciously participate in but then I think there are many other instances in which, for instance, the act of raising my arm can be linked back to a conscious decision I've made. I don't see why there should be but one source of actions. We don't have to relegate our entire conscious selves to the status of ghosts-in-the-machine to recognize that not every action or reaction which springs from us is one which originates from conscious deliberation. I think the truth is more complex than either explanation alone. We do have the ability to raise our arm on command just as naive common sense would have it. But our arm can also raise in reflex to a perceived need before we consciously are aware of the reason for it.
