Well said.
> You are in far less control of your actions then you believe.
No. But I say this in a way that might surprise you?
I view 'free will', as most people understand it, as an illusion.
I recognize that I, at best, have a tiny fraction of control. If I consider "me" to be a locus of control w.r.t. volitional action, then I will grant that "me" has causal impact. But what causally impacted "me" at time t? A combination of "me" at time t-1 and my environment. (I'm a materialist who is agnostic w.r.t. determinism.)
So, what does this really mean? "I" (right now) can only have volitional control only if one ignores the precursors. It is a mindbending realization to many, but it is the best theory I've found that fits reality.
There are lots of us around. We might disagree on how we define 'free will'; we may or may not 'deny free will'. But there is a huge commonality among most rational materialists who accept modern science: we do not conceptualize free will in ways that match 'mainstream' notions of it.
> You are in far less control of your actions then you believe.
No. But I say this in a way that might surprise you?
I view 'free will', as most people understand it, as an illusion.
I recognize that I, at best, have a tiny fraction of control. If I consider "me" to be a locus of control w.r.t. volitional action, then I will grant that "me" has causal impact. But what causally impacted "me" at time t? A combination of "me" at time t-1 and my environment. (I'm a materialist who is agnostic w.r.t. determinism.)
So, what does this really mean? "I" (right now) can only have volitional control only if one ignores the precursors. It is a mindbending realization to many, but it is the best theory I've found that fits reality.
There are lots of us around. We might disagree on how we define 'free will'; we may or may not 'deny free will'. But there is a huge commonality among most rational materialists who accept modern science: we do not conceptualize free will in ways that match 'mainstream' notions of it.