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Apr 18, 2008 15:57

What if morally relevant freedom isn't something we have achieved yet? Or perhaps, have only achieved in the rarest instances, with a few exceptional people, or better, a few exceptional moments, when it bloomed into the world. What is free will is something in our future, something we are growing into, rather than the real conditions of our ( Read more... )

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lesenjournal April 19 2008, 01:47:56 UTC
The impression that we are able to freely choose between different possible courses of action is fundamental to our mental life. However, it has been suggested that this subjective experience of freedom is no more than an illusion and that our actions are initiated by unconscious mental processes long before we become aware of our intention to act.

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autopoetic April 19 2008, 02:48:52 UTC
Yes, that's a pretty common suggestion. I mostly agree with the author: "If, however, you treat the conscious and unconscious minds as part of the same system, then any decision made by the latter are as free as decisions made by the former. That is, there's no reason to treat decisions made unconsciously as less free than decisions made consciously." This is the connectedness horn of the paradox I tried to highlight above.

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