Seconded. (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Monday, September 20, 2010, 12:04 (5177 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Matt accepts my latest definition of free will as: "An entity's conscious ability to control its decision-making process within given constraints."
 
Balance_Maintained asks "What constraints? And what enforces those constraints?"-As I see it, there are two types of constraint: 
1) Those imposed by the situation or by Nature. 
2) Those imposed by factors connected with the decision-making process itself. It's the second category that determines our judgement as to whether or not we have free will.-As regards 1), the constraints might be the restricted number of items on the menu, the size and shape of the block of marble, the range of the musical instrument, the limited evidence available, the laws of Nature. As someone (Romansh?) pointed out, I can't decide that I want to be an eagle. -It's 2) that's the problem. The obvious constraint is our genetic make-up, because we simply don't know to what extent our inborn characteristics determine our behaviour. Nor do we know to what extent our inborn characteristics determine our response to our upbringing (another "given constraint"). Nor do we know to what extent our parents' genes and upbringing determined our own upbringing, and so on. There's no end to the process of cause and effect. Other such constraints may be the impact of illness, accidents, chance encounters (all beyond our control), and once again, we don't know the extent to which our responses to these are influenced by our genes, upbringing etc. We all believe INTUITIVELY that we make our decisions independently, but REASON tells us there are so many subconscious elements at work that our freedom is at best limited. And so now, in accordance with the limited evidence available, we have to decide whether reason or intuition is our best guide to deciding whether our decisions are free. Alternatively, we can decide - as I have done - not to take a decision!-That is far from being the end of the argument, though. For me the question of free will is simply part of the even more complex one of identity, concerning which we had a long discussion this time last year. Just what is it that directs our minds to take decisions? Brain cells directing brain cells? Or the ghost in the machine?