The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #139650   Message #3223604
Posted By: Bill D
15-Sep-11 - 11:16 AM
Thread Name: BS: Your Brain, Your Brain on God
Subject: RE: BS: Your Brain, Your Brain on God
I don't think the import of my post differs significantly from that of Lighter or Amos. It IS (whatever you mean by 'is') a conundrum to even say: "I don't believe I have free will." In that philosophical sense, as Lighter says, "But, Bill, we have no choice"
   We either DO or we do NOT. In THAT sense we have no choice. But we all act as though we do, even if we posit a claim that we do not. (I have a good friend with whom I have been debating this for about 40 years. He 'thinks' that ultimately, we do not...but everyday he 'chooses'.)

My point, and the thesis of my unfinished Masters thesis, was that the ultimate answer is **by definition** not subject to 'proof'.

We can ...ummm... 'choose'.... premises such that within that logical system either answer is true, and as I said above, we can show how (as Whitehead did with his concept of "actual entities") free will might work. But since 'actual entities' are only a theoretical construct (no matter how much they seem to resemble quarks or other sub-atomic thingies ), we can only weave words that support whatever theory each of us supports....whether we chose it freely or not.

Ain't it fun?