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

by romansh , Sunday, September 12, 2010, 18:27 (5185 days ago) @ dhw

an entity's ability to make its own conscious decisions within constraints beyond its control." David wants to substitute "boundaries"-"I" as defined is an entity, I would appear to be conscious, though there are dissenting voices (Susan Blackmore), I make decisions, those decisions are within the constraints of my control - ergo I appear to have free will?-I'm not too fussed about boundaries/constraints. -> 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.
Why sadly? But correct.-Here exactly is the statement I initially strongly agreed to.
>> But a better question would be for me to challenge you on how free will can > exist without consciousness. I do not see how they are separable.
Funnily enough I agree with this statement strongly! This why I continue to avoid "consciousness" in my definition.-This is in-line with free will, intelligence, life, and consciousness being entwined. Is it not? Intuitively, free will and consciousness seem inseparable, I agree, but on deeper reflection this is a totally based on our human experience. -So if they are, then where ever we find free will, then we will find consciousness and conscious is unnecessary within the definition.-> 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.-So how would you describe "will" without using the word "will"?