tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6489111.post265956149728032165..comments2023-09-25T07:29:38.364-06:00Comments on Café Philos: an internet café: An Argument Against Naturalism Leaves Me ConfusedPaul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6489111.post-76341875337027578622007-04-24T06:52:00.000-06:002007-04-24T06:52:00.000-06:00Interesting post, Paul. I've wrestled with the sa...Interesting post, Paul. I've wrestled with the same dilemma in my Buddhist studies. In a karmic world, where all events follow logically from prior conditions, it is fairly easy to argue that free will does not exist at all—that what we perceive as choice is actually determinism if viewed from a different (correct) perspective. <BR/><BR/>I haven't reconciled this problem by any means, but I do occasionally glimpse an interesting paradox: abandoning ego willfulness creates a genuine, liberating freedom.<BR/><BR/>This is much the same as the recognition that life in a society structured with reasonable laws is actually much more free than life in anarchy. <BR/><BR/>It's possible, then, that our slavery originates from our insistence on free choice.The Geezershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12132213545989946724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6489111.post-32332208105279158692007-04-23T10:04:00.000-06:002007-04-23T10:04:00.000-06:00"Free choice" is a judgment or an interpretation, ..."Free choice" is a judgment or an interpretation, one that we inherited in our language and thought from millenia of religious and philosophical tradition. What appear to be choices may not be from a perspective other than the chooser. The classic example is the "force" card used in card tricks in stage magic. The mark doesn't know that the magician is determining the card and merely creating the illusion that the mark has "chosen" it. Because the mark's mind fills in "free choice" as a matter of interpretation and perspective almost instinctually, the mark fails to see the trick.<BR/><BR/>If all mental events are physically caused, then every perceived "choice" is predetermined.<BR/><BR/>Or put another way, whether we have free will or not, it would still look to us as though we have free will. Thus, that perception itself demonstrates nothing.Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07134613201384730701noreply@blogger.com