Free Will (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Sunday, September 12, 2010, 15:14 (5185 days ago) @ romansh

DAVID: Boundry is a strict limit, constraint on a leash is not.
ROMANSH: Boundaries are time, observer, context dependent, ultimately I would argue they are illusory (as opposed to delusional).-The reason for this particular discussion is that we're trying to fix an acceptable definition of "free will". I've revised my earlier one to: "an entity's ability to make its own conscious decisions within constraints beyond its control." David wants to substitute "boundaries" for "constraints" because he thinks it's stricter. I think "constraints" is better for precisely that reason. If we are to argue that a dog on a leash has free will to do what it likes within the range of its leash, then we should use "constraints". The examples I used for what David calls "wiggle room" were items on a menu, a sculptor's block of marble, the inconclusive evidence confronting an agnostic. My examples of boundaries were natural and social laws, and the body. I would say, however, that all of these represent constraints within which an entity may make its own decisions (if there is such a thing as free will), whether the boundaries are "illusory" or not.-As regards the problem I raised in an earlier post, Romansh writes: "I retract my statement ... it must have been my pragmatic self and not reason that prevailed." Sadly, I have to assume that the statement you are retracting is your strong agreement that free will cannot exist without consciousness. You now ask Matt (= xeno): "Are all your wills conscious ones?" Matt has explained his own views with extremely interesting references to Zen, but I fear he may have missed the equivocation in your use of "wills". (Sorry if that sounds impolite, but I can't think of a better word. I'm not accusing you of trying to deceive us!) When we use the expression "free will", it is in the sense of volition, i.e. "the ability to make conscious choices or decisions" (Encarta), or "the faculty or capability of conscious choice, decision and intention" (Collins). This form of the noun is uncountable. Following the example of Strawson, you are now using it synonymously with "want", in the sense of desire or need, and as such of course it can be unconscious.