Reply to Re: Choices, options and freewill
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This discussion seems to be winding down, but I wanted to see what you think of this, Simeon. You said:
Now, why would our brain/being be different? Because our neurons can't really choose how to send electrical signals around in the brain, can they? They just act out according to physical laws. So the question is, if we are purely physical beings (the commonly accepted view these days), then how exactly can we exercise "free will" if we are subjected to the laws of physics.
Quantum mechanics, at least the dominant interpretations of it, suggests that events on the atomic level have an element of randomness. So the history of the universe wouldn't be entirely predictable even if we knew all the initial conditions. So that would apply to our neurons too, and in that sense our wills could be "free," though probably in a different sense from what MsDink and maybe schnapper are using.
I think most discussions of free will equivocate (unintentionally) on the terms free and possibly will.
Now, why would our brain/being be different? Because our neurons can't really choose how to send electrical signals around in the brain, can they? They just act out according to physical laws. So the question is, if we are purely physical beings (the commonly accepted view these days), then how exactly can we exercise "free will" if we are subjected to the laws of physics.
Quantum mechanics, at least the dominant interpretations of it, suggests that events on the atomic level have an element of randomness. So the history of the universe wouldn't be entirely predictable even if we knew all the initial conditions. So that would apply to our neurons too, and in that sense our wills could be "free," though probably in a different sense from what MsDink and maybe schnapper are using.
I think most discussions of free will equivocate (unintentionally) on the terms free and possibly will.
