RE: Determinism.....
October 7, 2009 at 9:59 pm
(This post was last modified: October 7, 2009 at 10:01 pm by Violet.)
free will
noun
the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
I still made the decision. That I thought about my decision before I made it doesn't make my decision any less made. Your subconscious is a part of you, is it not? As such, this subconscious was free to make a choice... a choice which you justified with your conscious. It was completely your decision.
Think about it this way. I am playing a game of chess with a friend. I have played chess many times, and think I know that they will move into a trap I set up. However, they still have the ability to move to a different place. The subconscious might think that I will chose the red ball... but similarly: I could take an initiative at the last moment and seize the blue one.
Right and wrong have a great deal to do with it. Free will is being able to choose without others telling them or coercion. However, there is no choice if we are programmed to be 'right' every single time a divergent option appears. Simply: we will never choose, we will have only the option of being 'right', even if the option of being wrong seems to present itself. If the subconscious was always right, then yet: we would have no free will. But our subconscious is hardly the best judge to go by. We are only machines... slaves to logic... if our only option is to do what is best.
And you are a neuroscientist I guess? And I suppose that I cannot voice my opinion that a flaming car will crash into you... unless I hold an advanced degree in physics? Simply, bring your evidence for why you would say all of that. Here is some lingual evidence against the subconscious being as aware as the conscious... in other words: subconscious is a mislabeled term if it is greater than or equal to the conscious.
Sub- (a prefix) is attached to a word to show that it is lesser or that it is beneath. In example: Sub-human, sub-marine, sub-machine gun. You will notice: sub-conscious. In some way or another, the sub-conscious is beneath the conscious. I take it neuroscientists are not often linguists?
noun
the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
Quote:It matters quite a bit. Free will depends on the conscious mind making the decision, not the subconscious. If the conscious mind makes the decision, then you (as in you as a person, thinking, etc) make the decision. You actively think, "I'll choose the red ball" and do so. If the subconscious is simply telling your conscious mind to think "I'll choose the red ball", and you have no control over your subconscious, then we have no free will.
I still made the decision. That I thought about my decision before I made it doesn't make my decision any less made. Your subconscious is a part of you, is it not? As such, this subconscious was free to make a choice... a choice which you justified with your conscious. It was completely your decision.
Think about it this way. I am playing a game of chess with a friend. I have played chess many times, and think I know that they will move into a trap I set up. However, they still have the ability to move to a different place. The subconscious might think that I will chose the red ball... but similarly: I could take an initiative at the last moment and seize the blue one.
Right and wrong have a great deal to do with it. Free will is being able to choose without others telling them or coercion. However, there is no choice if we are programmed to be 'right' every single time a divergent option appears. Simply: we will never choose, we will have only the option of being 'right', even if the option of being wrong seems to present itself. If the subconscious was always right, then yet: we would have no free will. But our subconscious is hardly the best judge to go by. We are only machines... slaves to logic... if our only option is to do what is best.
Quote:Didn't know you were suddenly a neuroscientist. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure all *real* neuroscientists disagree with what you've said here. The subconscious mind does think, and it is far from simple.
And you are a neuroscientist I guess? And I suppose that I cannot voice my opinion that a flaming car will crash into you... unless I hold an advanced degree in physics? Simply, bring your evidence for why you would say all of that. Here is some lingual evidence against the subconscious being as aware as the conscious... in other words: subconscious is a mislabeled term if it is greater than or equal to the conscious.
Sub- (a prefix) is attached to a word to show that it is lesser or that it is beneath. In example: Sub-human, sub-marine, sub-machine gun. You will notice: sub-conscious. In some way or another, the sub-conscious is beneath the conscious. I take it neuroscientists are not often linguists?
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
