(October 20, 2013 at 11:02 pm)arvind13 Wrote: well, for sure our actions and activities make use of concepts and beliefs, and our actions transmit concepts and ideas and beliefs. What I'm questioning is the causal relationship between actions on one hand and beliefs on the other.
Yes, we all attribute reasons and beliefs as to why we do something or other, but is this really so? Think of the simple act of getting up in the morning. Different people come up with different reasons/ideas why they get up in the morning (to go to work, to drop off somebody, to go to school etc, my boss will be mad if I'm late for work). But is it the reason or belief that causes the body to move out of bed? Because, even if you do not have a reason to get up, you will probably get up eventually. It is more likely that the act of getting up is caused by things like habit, the actions and events that preceded the act of getting up (actions causing other actions). In addition, there is also an individual's genetics and inborn tendencies.
The neurobiology research I had in mind was the Libet experiments.
On the contrary, the Libet experiments only make sense when the cause and effect are very close together. They become nonsensical in more complex scenarios. For example, I get out of bed because I have a reason to do so. Every morning I wake up, I consider how much I want to sleep vs. how mush work I have to do. On the days I don't have work, I go right back to sleep and sleep into the afternoon.
