Ourcellves? (Identity)

by romansh , Tuesday, April 08, 2014, 06:30 (3670 days ago) @ dhw

DHW: One materialist argument against belief in free will is that "we" consist only of materials, and "we" do not have control over them, but they control "us".-This is one typical dualist type of response ... woe is my self ... trapped in a body that is controlled by materialistic forces. I do not accept such an interpretation. 
> DHW: "we" ARE our cells -And yet this is such a limiting boundary for our "selves". -> DHW: That level is my focus. Even if the mind IS the brain, and all its activities are the direct products of our materials, it is still "me". -No one here is denying that our physical bodies exist. But I would argue that my perception of what "me" is, is not what it seems. In my daily activities I behave as though I am that homunculus that I deny. I deny the homunculus, because, for me, it is a logical fallacy. -The wording you have used could have been replaced as the materials (cells) are mine. Who is this homunculus that says "mine"? You by-passed the problem by using "ours", but the problem is a little more obvious in the singular.-> DHW: And so the argument that our cells control "us" and therefore "we" have no free will is illogical because it creates a false dichotomy. Our cells ARE us, and so "we" control ourselves. And that is what people mean by free will.-We have been through this before DHW. We can define free will however we like. The central concept of everything being a result of cause and its consequences does not go away. Whether the cause is some baseball bat or a subtle quantum phenomenon ... our wills and actions are are result of cause. Whether there is a feedback loop or hundreds of millions it does not matter.