[MD] Freedom within structure.

[Dan Glover]

Hello everyone

On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 5:26 PM, Steven Peterson
<peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> dmb says:
>>> I think Pirsig's comments only clarify and illuminate the very issue we've been debating for months and I think it is your questions that just muddle things...
>
>
>> Dan:
>> Yes, I agree with David here. Which is why I observed that sometimes
>> we think too much. We don't see what is being said for thinking about
>> what our answer is going to be...
>
> Steve:
> Pirsig has described freedom as a matter of perception while every
> other philosopher that I have ever read has described it as a matter
> of will. You don't see that as interesting? That's not worth thinking
> about?

Dan:

That's not what I mean... of course it's interesting and has
intellectual value. Sometimes though, we gloss over what's important
in life by over-thinking. Instead of listening to someone or really
reading the words that they write, we are thinking of what our answer
is goign to be. There is a time for thinking and a time for
not-thinking. For example... I've talked before about how when I come
upon a very difficult problem that I'll study it and think about it in
great detail and then just let it go. Forget about it. And later,
maybe a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks, an answer will
just pop into my head, usually when I am doing something mindless like
taking a walk. Did I think about the problem? Yes. And then I forgot
it entirely. That is what I'm getting at when I say we sometimes think
too much. We fail to allow time for not-thinking.

>
> What is so weird for me here is that based on what you've said
> previously you _don't_ agree with dmb on this free will business.
> Correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that you disagree with
> dmb's claim that Pirsig's conception of freedom is about the capacity
> of a rational agent to freely choose among a set of options.

Dan:

I am unsure that dmb and myself are in complete agreement in regards
to the free will vs determinism debate but I don't exactly recall our
disagreement at the moment. Did dmb say that a rational agent does the
choosing? That sounds a lot like Ham. Still, just because we may not
agree on one aspect of the MOQ doesn't mean we don't agree on most of
it. I think we do.

Thank you,

Dan