[MD] Free Will

[John Carl]

Steve,

Please note, John, that I have always granted that people make
> choices, the question is that in what sense are those choices made
> freely? We have will, but what is _free_ will?
> <http://moq.org/md/archives.html>
>


John:

Choice is what is meant by free will, to my mind.  So I suppose in a way,
it's a sort of redundancy to say "free" will.  If there is any cognizant
will, then it is obviously free for that is the meaning of cognizant will.
 I've often said it's the basis of individuality - that individuality is a
choice and any being which has no choice, has no real independent being.
 Like an automaton of some other's scheme.

I guess what the term means to me, is at its deepest levels, we find freedom
to choose.  Even the basic structure of reality is a choice at the quantum
level, and I don't know how you can get more fundamental than that.  So
that's what I mean by the fundamentalness of choice.

There are myriad factors which weigh upon our choices, but those factors are
themselves choices - we choose what to respond to out of the flux of
experience.  Some people react to certain stimuli that others ignore
completely.   There is obviously more to the picture then, than straight
causation.

You're welcome.

John