Seems like a row of billiard balls. — litewave
If this is correct, does this automatically rule out the possibility of free will? — Paul Michael
If we do not hold free will, then we are completely determined by determinants in all we do, including our choices. — javra
. Intents are teleological processes, i.e. teloi, and not causal processes as the latter is understood in modernity via Hume's notion of causation and the notions of those who followed. — javra
But, as to the issue of determinacy, if we do hold free will then we are only partly determined by determinants (teloi and antecedent causes included) in the choices we make, and thereby remain partly free to choose what we see fit — javra
But how do I choose an intention without already having it? — litewave
Even if what one will do next were [completely, rather than partly] determined, the choice remains. — Banno
Then your mind seems oddly passive. I'm glad I'm not you, just watching your thoughts pop up, unable to decide between them. — Banno
So it is not enough for my free will act to originate in me. I must also be alive and maybe also intend to do the act? But how do I choose an intention without already having it?
I want to eat a cookie — litewave
So to the extent our action is determined by our intentions it is not free. But to the extent it is NOT determined by our intentions it is unintended and therefore not free either. — litewave
By choosing between alternative potential intentions - like the intent to read a book or the intent to see a movie. — javra
Hoping the terse aformentioned summation makes some sense. — javra
An inability to make decisions must make dieting hell....you can literally feel how it pushes you to your feet and toward the cupboard with the cookie. — litewave
I just need a thought to decide between them, except when I don't need a thought to decide between them, in which case I don't decide or I decide unintentionally. — litewave
No. Our actions would yet be "free" if we could choose otherwise in a selfsame situation - hence a situation wherein the same overarching intent (e.g., to increase one's own happiness) and the same alternative / conflicting wants (e.g., seeing a movie or reading a book) occur. — javra
Like, I have an intention to read a book and also an intention to see a movie? How do I intentionally decide between them? I would need an intention to yield to the first or the second intention. But how do I choose that intention? — litewave
Well, in physics the outcome is determined by the joint influence of all present forces. It seems similar with my decision/action - it is determined by the joint influence of all my present drives. — litewave
Hmm. I've commented elsewhere on arguments that assume ontology and epistemology are incommensurate. I don't find that line of reasoning at all convincing. — Banno
And we have Frankfurt's examples of feee choice without alternative possibilities. — Banno
So, I'd say absolute free will does not exist. — Daniel
A correction: Frankfurt’s examples and like cases are one’s in which one could not choose otherwise between alternative possibilities yet supposedly retains moral responsibility for what was effected - basically arguing for the occurrence of moral responsibility in the absence of free will. — javra
I'd suggest that our actions are physically caused yet not physically determined. — Banno
Free will is from early 13c, and apparently related to arguments concerning the problem of evil. — Banno
Can we choose how much insulin our pancreas secretes? If not, does this rule out free will?
The brain does what the brain does in the same manner that the pancreas does what the pancreas does. Neither is under our direct control. That fact says nothing about free will.
— T Clark
If the brain does what the brain does in the same manner that the pancreas does what the pancreas does, then the brain makes its choices automatically without any input from us as well. — Paul Michael
Do you know of any established philosopher or philosophy that makes a distinction between “absolute free will” and “non-absolute free will”? — javra
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