[MD] Free Will

[Ham Priday]

Steve --

On Tuesday, 6/14/11, 7:37 AM, "Steven Peterson" <peterson.steve at gmail.com> 
wrote:


> Hi Ham,
>
> How is the preference in intellectual preferences different
> in kind from biological preferences? I can't simply decide
> by force of will to prefer 2+2=5 over 2+2=4 any more than
> I can will myself not to bleed when stabbed through the heart.

I'm not distinguishing biological preferences from intellectual preferences. 
Preferences are volitional responses to value sensibility.  They can be 
emotional, physical, aesthetic, social, or intellectual.  Mathematical 
"values" are a horse of a different color.  We don't respond valuistically 
to numbers or equations any more than to the fact that Paris is a city in 
France, or that the sun rises in the morning.  So, I fail to see why you 
would suppose that equations had any relevance to sensible value or personal 
preference.

Why do you insist on complicating what amounts to exercising your will?

Do you prefer coffee or tea?  Do you like pop music or the classics?  Are 
you more attracted to blondes or brunettes?  Do you support liberal or 
conservative candidates?  THESE are preferences, Steve.  They are all based 
on your personal values.  You may not be able to "will" yourself not to 
bleed, but you are free to choose how you will stop the bleeding.  Indeed, 
you are free to decide what action to take on virtually any value option 
presented to you.

The more typical agument is that whatever you do, however you act, is 
determined by prior causes, the implication being that you are not a free 
agent.  Even if that were true, nobody knows what those "causes" might be, 
nor can they prevent you from exercising your free will or choice on the 
matter.  So it's not as if you were acting out a motion picture, frame by 
frame, and HAD to act as the director choreographed it.

And since your action is a response to your value sensibilities, rather than 
a biogenetic program, you ARE a free agent.  In fact, you are the 
Choicemaker of your world.

Enjoy your freedom in good health,
Ham