Belinda wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:37 am
Then I gather that you believe in Free Will.
I never use the loaded term, "free will." No description of it is true. There is an unstated assumption that somehow, "free will," means being able to choose just anything, which is obviously untrue. One cannot choose to do what is physically impossible, one cannot choose to do what they do not themselves have the ability to do. All choice requires knowledge and one cannot choose to do what they do not have the knowledge required to do. One cannot just choose to be a doctor or physicist. One can choose to study and learn what is required to do something if, and only if, they have the intellectual ability to learn what is required.
Within the limits of reality, however, human beings not only can consciously choose what they think and do, but must choose what they think and do, or they will do nothing. Except for those biological functions, reflexes, and the behavior of the autonomic nervous system, everything a human being is conscious of doing, they have chosen to do. The correct term for that is not, "free will," but, "volition."
Belinda wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:37 am
... I gather that you believe that you yourself originate your intentions and choices and are not in the slightest influenced by others or indeed by anything other than your Free Will.
I'm not sure what you mean by, "influence." I've already described the realistic limits of volition. One cannot choose to speak in a language they do not know and cannot choose a kind of food or music or dress they do not know exists or have not yet thought up for themselves. Volition does not mean being able to choose anything, it means that whatever one does do must be chosen, but can only be chosen from what it is possible to choose.
Perhaps this will explain what I mean. Of course we all have some kind of specific background that is the source of all we learn and know, including all we learn from others, the kinds of cultural things we are aware of and have experienced, and you can call all those thing, "influence," if you like. In that case, "influence," only provides the pool of options available for one to choose from, but influence does not determine what one chooses.
Belinda wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:37 am
Incidentally I wonder if you are American bred.
I do not quite understand the view that human beings are, "bred," like cattle or horses, but I'll risk assuming you only mean were my views influenced by American, "culture." My first language is English and I'm familiar with American history and literature and grew up in a cosmopolitan industrial city with no dominant racial or cultural population. Except that those experiences provided opportunity to learn a great deal, they were otherwise unimportant.
I do not belong to any organization or party, have no use for or interest in any form of politics (except to know that all forms of government are evil and oppressive), and I do not subscribe to any religion or form of superstition. I do not hold with any "-ism." Those with any of the views you have subscribed to, "Americans," would despise me. I regard and enjoy all human beings only as individuals and never on the basis of any collective classification (especially not race or national origin).
I've enjoyed every kind of music, except rap, but my preference is classical. My dress is what you might call Western (as opposed to Middle Eastern or Oriental) casual, today, (I'm retired), but dressed as a business man for many years). (I would prefer to wear a sarong and flip flops if they were available. I love hot weather and the tropics.) My diet is eclectic, American, Mexican, South American, Asian, especially Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Chinese (but not Japanese), French, Italian, Greek, (but not German), the
choices are simply based on what I like and enjoy cooking. I read everything, and voraciously.
How you see any of that, you must decide. Everything I have done and everything I do I have consciously chosen to do and gladly bear the responsibility for those choices. I regard the denial of human volition an evasion of personal responsibility.
Now, perhaps you will be willing to tell me a little about yourself and how you came to your views.
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