A Sense of Free Will: the consciousness quagmire (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 14, 2015, 05:49 (3085 days ago) @ romansh

dhw “why have conversations at all?”
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> Romansh: I get the feeling you don't really understand the issues.
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> Another common test is ... could have I done otherwise?
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> For a choice I might be able to see several possibilities or courses of action. I feel like I can choose any of them ... I might even at the last moment choose an alternative I had not previously considered. But as I make the choice the question remains could I have done otherwise?
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> Now if my choice and subsequent action is a result of cause and effect then it is difficult to say I could have done otherwise. The constituent parts of my body respond to the chemistry and physics that make up the various processes going on in my brain.-Those constituent parts don't control my ability to think and reason. My thoughts and reason are not material, but the chemistry and physics of my brain are, two different unexplained levels of reality from the brain. For my position, cause and effect, determinism don't apply.