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Re: A Realist Aspect to the Interpretation of Selv

Posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2005, at 20:52:38

In reply to Re: A Realist Aspect to the Interpretation of Selv, posted by alexandra_k on July 30, 2005, at 20:33:22

social / physical environment + genetic inheritance -> beliefs, desires, memories, perceptions, goals etc -> behaviour.

I think that is a physical process.
A physical process of causation that is governed by physical laws.

Perhaps the universe is deterministic...
If this is so then if we understood all the social and physical environment and the genetic inheritance then we would be able to predict the beliefs desires etc with 100% accuracy.
Likewise if we knew all the beliefs desires etc then we would be able to predict the behaviour with 100% accuracy.

This is Laplace's vision. If we knew the state of the universe at any one moment in time we would be able to predict with 100% accuracy the state of the universe at the next moment in time. And from there the next moment. And from there the next moment. And so on indefinately into the future.

Now maybe Laplace was wrong... Maybe Newtonian deterministic physics has been replaced. Maybe there is a fundamental indeterminacy in causation. Maybe the best we can do is say that given the initial conditions of the universe there is a 98% chance that this will be the next state, and a 1% chance that the next thing will be the next state, and so forth.

That might be right.

But it doesn't change things significantly...

So where is there room for free will???

Well... It depends what you mean by free will. Either there isn't any such thing, or free will turns out to be a little different than we had supposed...

I think... That our conscious experience just is numerically one and the same thing as some processes that are occurring within our brains. And those states are caused (either deterministically or indeterministically) by environment + genetic inheritance.

Consciousness is an epiphenomenon. We just experience a whole bunch of processes that are outside our control in a very real sense.

Sometimes we have the experience of making a decision. That is an experience that results from a decision being made. But the decision is being made by our brain processes that in a very real sense are being determined by processes outside our control.


Some people find this view of the world to be rather scarey. I don't think it has to be. I think... It leads to greater empathy. If I experienced your brain processes then I'd have the feelings thoughts perceptions that you have. I'd do the same things that you do. So I do not judge you. Its not your fault you got your body. Its not my fault I got mine. My feelings aren't my fault - I didn't choose them. I just experience what is there and what is there is caused by factors outside my control.

And when people do bad things... Rather than justice being about punishment and retribution it should be about prevention of reoffending and rehabilitation.

I honestly believe that.
And it is this world view that got me there :-)

 

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