The process is the same. You are determining preferences. Whether it's a new job or eggs instead of cereal
Ah thats where I think there may be a difference. Everyday stuff like food is sort of robotic. But contemplating a new job sort of moves into self reflection, reflection on life, meaning ect. Not always as some may just robotically work.
But we have the capacity to think deeper about these things which we can make meaningful choices that can have an influence on our reality. That we don't sometimes and fall into that roboitic mode doesn't mean we cannot snap ourselves out of this and be able to become part of the process of changing our reality.
No it's not. It's saying that if you dismantle the transmitter then it can't send out anything. If you dismantle the receiver it can't receive anything. It'll be, as they say, dead. But radio waves are still real. It's just that you won't be transmitting any.
Yes thats what I am saying. That consciousness can be like radiowaves and the physical brain can be the sender and reciever of consciousness. If the physical brain is damaged it may interfer with clear consciousness. If its complete severed it losses the signal of consciousness.
Another interesting aspect of consciousness is that it can still happen when unconscious or even clinically dead. So that would be like turning the radio off, unplugging it from the wall and still the radio working and recieving signals.
Everyone will. Including me. It feels exactly like I have some control. But I'll tell you the reasons I made a decision (that's why you were asking). At least the ones that I know of. The ones that determined my choice. I'm still waiting for you to give me an example that had no reason. An example that wasn't determined by antecedent conditions.
As I said I don't think its a case of a lack of antecedents but rather than we can make choices despite the antecedents. In other words there maybe antecedents associated with everything we do that may influence our choices to varying degrees.
But we have the ability to overide them at times and choose one set of action that may have been influenced by some antecedents over another choice that may have been influenced by some antecedents. We are still making one choice over another and I think what makes it one choice at least for important and meaningful stuff is that we inject ourselves, our mind and attention into that on a deeper level than the antecedents from which we gain knowledge the antecedents could not have given us which gives us that degree of control in certain situations.
I think primarily we are creatures determined by the antecedents as we are physical and the world is physical. That makes sense. But I think there is another aspect to us, call it spirituality, Transcedence, Consciousness or may intuition its real and unlike other species at lease to deminishing levels humans have the greatest capacity for this deeper understanding. Thats what makes us different.
You can't make a conscious decision on knowledge that you don't have. Free will doesn't live there. There may be circumstances about which you are unconsciously aware and your choice may be subconsciously determined by some of them. But then it won't be a free will choice.
I think we do have that knowledge but don't realise it in our conscious minds. Intuition is said to be the end result of our brains filtering a whole bunch of stuff we take in both at the conscious and subconscious level. Though we can get intuition or our sense of something wrong because its mixed with emotion we can and do get it astonishly right even beyond our ability to explain exactly how we were so right. I don't believe this is just coincident.
So I think we have more abilitythan we give ourselves credit. I think we do take in suff beyond what we see in the physical world due to consciousness. Some knowledge of reality that the physical world doesn't give us and its this dimension that I think is associated with agency, with being a part of reality rather than apart from reality where we can gain some insight or knowledge about reality that allows us to have some control.
The reality of the circumstances - which weren't under your control, your inbuilt instinctive behaviour - which is obviously nothing to do with free will,
I was going to agree but then I thought wait a minute. I know research shows that humans are more or less borm with a sense of empathy, kindness and justice. These are not basal instincts but higher order abstract cognitions. So as humans we have this animalistic side which relates to instincts and programmed behaaviour.
But we can also overcome these instincts determining our behaviour through the higher cognitions of mind which is beyond the physical drives.
the culture into which you grew up in - obviously not a conscious decision by you,
. This one I especially disagree with as I mentioned earlier cultural and other social behaviours are now being seen as a driving force within their own rights as directing evolution or rather determining the survival outcomes of each group.
This is evidenced in evolution beyond genes and how the type of behaviour one generation may have can positively or negatively effect future generations survivability (epigenetics). But also the direct benefits of how culture may influence certain higher order behaviours that are conducive of survival.
For example many Indigenous peoples have spiritual beliefs that connect them to the land and environment and nature. Living one with the land. These people have survived for millenia say compared to modern cultures that have raped and pillaged the land.
Humans especially have a deeper understand about the nature of things and can look beyond the environments pressures and deterministic processes to drive their own evolution and destiny whether positive or negative. So it may be that like individual entire cultures can overcome the antecedents through a deeper unified knowledge.
and knowledge and education that you have gained as you have grown - all that input you have been subjected to which was an accident of your particular circumstances. All those and more determine your actions.
I agree knowledge is a powerful force and as I mentioned in some ways can create reality. But I think despite knowledge and other determinants we have this deeper sense and consciousness that doesn't require education, culture, or our instincts.
A bit similar to humans common moral sense. We don't need culture or to be taught this sense. In fact we have to be born with this sense for culture and morality to make sense to us in the first place.
I've been explaining it for quite some time now. I'll grant that it can't be proved but to say 'there's no explanation' is completely nonsensical. Maybe what you meant to say was that you don't agree with any explanation that you've read or listened to.
Its more like no explanation has ever been able to explain there is no Free will or consciousness for that matter. They are inadequate, they still leave things unexplained. So we continue to look and as time goes by we seem to move away from material explanations and more towards something beyond.
So yes we cannot fully explain how this works at the moment but we know we are on the right track due to the complete inability of the material paradigm being able to explain this. So the answers must lie within a different paradinamic explanation. We see glimpses such as how well the non material explanations fit into what we see with the higher order thinking and behaviours.
Thats why fields like evolutionary psychology, and extended synthesis are being developed. Thats why behavioural and consciousness sciences are becoming more popular.
I'd skip the evolutionary aspects of this if I were you. I don't want to be rude, but you've made a couple of dopey statements on it so far that weren't even wrong. Just accept that you are part of the evolutionary process and forget about the details as it relates to free will.
I don't think I have said anything wrong. Or at least nothing I havn't got evidence for. I don't usually say stuff I havn't researched and got evidence on. If I said it in relation to the OP then I said it because I think it relates. I'm pretty sure evolution relates to free will one way or another.
Whether you stayed where you were and the environment changed or you moved to a different environment for whatever reason, it makes no difference. You decide to move or you decide to stay. The environment changes or it doesn't. Either way it will affect the process. Or it won't. I mean, really, let's skip evolution.
THis is probably a good example of how evolution or at the the traditional view as compared to the extended view relates to free will.
You are correct that fundementally the Modern synthesis says that environments shape creatures. But what if it was the other way around where creatures shaped environments. Where they were able to direct their own evolution and act like natural selection but instead be the selector in how they evolve thus oriding the deterministic processes of bottom up evolution.
So you're going with free will in prehistoric times. Well, that's a big step. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks that present day chimps even have a theory of mind, let alone free will. But there you go, it's where your thought processes have taken you.
Its not prehistory times thinking but rather todays thinking. Things have changed as time has gone by. Its not so much about a theory of mind which is more about knwing what others are thinking. Which I think our closest ancestors would have some degree of as would other creatures to varying degrees. I am sure my dog knows what I am thinking somethings the way he looks me in the eyes lol.
Its more about each creature having the capacity to mentally inject themselves into their own evolution and rise above the deterministic processes. We see this in varying degrees across different species. They say even cells can sense their environments in a rudimentary way.
But humans are the most consciousness and aware on a level beyond the materail world and thus can move beyond the material processes. Science has always dumbed down the subjective human like it is some unreliable byproduct that has not influence or things. But when you factor back in the many beyond physical influences and capabilities we begin to see that humans are actually central players in the equation of what reality is made up of.
