Someone who is aware they are a prisoner in the Cave is a little more free, relatively more free, to be good than someone who is unaware they are a prisoner of circumstances. At least the person who is aware they know nothing does not have to get rid of vanity before they may begin to seek a better truth.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:52 pmNot quite the point, but okay.
I wish there were an easy relationship between intelligence and integrity, but I fear that life teaches us there is not. That is not the point.
However, the real point is this: does not knowing your are the thrall of predetermining forces mean that one is no longer a thrall of predetermining forces, and thus volitionally free.
And the answer to that, of course, is "no." If the Determinists were right, it would make absolutely no difference whether you and I knew that Determinism is true, or, on the other hand, whether we were blissfully ignorant of the same fact.
The only thing that would make an actual difference is if Determinism is, in fact, not true. Which, I suggest, is the case.
Volition, or will, does not in itself imply freedom. Volition, or will, is determined by circumstances such as innate curiosity, innate ability to remember experiences and learn from them, and good health which tends o give the energy to learn from experience.
There is no Belinda B that controls Belinda A . Belinda A is all there is. However Belinda A can learn from experience and thus she tries to have more and better choices and become more free. There is an important difference between fatalism and determinism.