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

by David Turell , Saturday, November 14, 2015, 15:43 (3086 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: How many more times are we going to draw these circles?-You and Romansh certainly go round and round, with no agreement on definitions and no end in sight.
> 
> DAVID: 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.
> 
> dhw: Dualism is another approach to the subject, ... In view of all its religious implications, it is one that I have tried to avoid in this context, not least because eventually it would lead to subjects such as predestination.-When I was agnostic I still accepted the immateriality of thought and consciousness without all this worry about religious implications. In my 'conversion' I never looked at or used religious precepts. You are still comparing yourself to religious thought from your childhood.-> dhw: However, it shows that belief or disbelief in the existence of free will depends on the definition and the approach. I have now chosen to repeat this three times in one post. Could I have done otherwise? Do I have the ability to do otherwise? The answer seems to depend on the definition and the approach, doesn't it? Ts, ts, there I go again.-Yes, yes, yes!