Harris on free will: free will defended (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, April 18, 2015, 23:35 (3300 days ago) @ romansh
edited by dhw, Monday, April 20, 2015, 21:42

DAVID: Harris' new book "Free Will" is reviewed and its fallacies are discussed. Dennett is discussed briefly:-"The claim that human beings never act freely implies that their behavior is determined. Defending the thesis of determinism is far more difficult than Harris acknowledges, and this for two reasons: the natural world does not support it, and our own existence makes the claim implausible, if not absurd.-"On Not Finding Free Will-"Philosophical arguments can err as much by omission as by the fallacies they commit. If one rules out the concepts necessary for describing and understanding human intentionality, as Harris does, then one will have no means for speaking of personal agency. Being unable to speak of it, one will claim that it does not exist. If there is no agency or will, then there is no free will. The assumptions being given, the conclusion follows."-http://inference-review.com/article/free-will-again-I acknowledge all the philosophical arguments against free will (basically, that all our decisions are determined by factors beyond our control), but since I myself and others appear to be in control, I would not dream of dismissing the possibility that we are all autonomous beings. All the above arguments in favour of free will apply equally to bacteria, which also appear to be in control. Defending the thesis of determinism goes against natural appearances, people who rule out the concepts necessary for describing bacterial intentionality make it impossible to speak of bacterial intentionality, and therefore claim it does not exist. If you assume that bacteria are not cognitive and do not take their own decisions, then you will conclude that bacteria have no autonomy. The assumptions being given, the conclusion follows. Shapiro: "Large organisms chauvinism, so we like to think that only we can do things in a cognitive way."