[MD] Free Will

[Ham Priday]

Hi Steve --

On Monday, 6/13/11, 10:02 AM "Steven Peterson" <peterson.steve at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Hi Ham,
>
> Ham:
> Free will is the power to choose. It is unintelligible only for
> determinists who believe that human actions, like all
> evolutionary events, are the consequence of prior causes.
> This would be true if human beings were controlled by their
> "beingness", enslaved by their genetic propensities and
> biological instincts, or programmed by a moral universe.
>
> Statistical conglomerates pay tribute to deterministic forces.
> But this is not the case for singularities such as human beings
> who possess a unique, highly developed, and sensitive
> perception of diversity. This affords man the unique capability
> for enacting his intentions, which is the basis of his active
> intelligence and which, as James Fletcher Baxter says,
> makes man "Earth's Choicemaker."

Steve:
> Do you see this "power to choose" as the possession of man
> but not other animals?

Yes I do, Steve.  I suppose a case can be made for "intentional behavior" on 
the part of highly developed cerebrates.  However, my personal view is that 
animal "preferences" are largely determined by instinct, which supports 
Nature's law of survival.  Man shares this biological guidance system with 
the animal species of course; but his major decisions, creative works, and 
socio-cultural agendas are often based on choices that override or run 
counter to natural law.  One can cite the invention of "lighter than air" 
craft, central plumbing, or electric power generation as examples.

I believe what drives mankind is not instinct but aesthetic and intellectual 
values of which the animal species are oblivious.  The soldier in battle who 
sacrifices his life for his country is certainly not acting in accordance 
with nature's laws.  The ideas laid out in the Magna Carta and the 
Declaration of Independence are based on moral principles rationalized from 
man's value sensibility.  Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa' and Beethoven's 'Ode to 
Joy' express values that can be appreciated only by aesthetically sensible 
human beings.

I also believe the "power to choose" has an intellectual corollary --  
namely, knowing that one is capable of self-determination.  Children start 
out in life indulging their natural appetites; if they mature normally, they 
acquire the intelligence to base their choices on more rational values like 
personal responsibility, justice, and concern for others.  This is what has 
enabled mankind to establish the moral systems needed for peaceful 
co-existence and free enterprise.  The moral precept here is rational, 
self-directed value, and it can only function where individuals realize they 
are, to borrow
Milton Friedman's axiom, Free to Choose.

Essentially speaking,
Ham