Jon, Glen, As a matter of historical fact, I think Jon is right.
But for me the most interesting cases of free will occur in the most trivial and banal situations. Let it be the case that I drop a dried cranberry on the floor: Am I going to bend down and pick it up? Or am I going to slip it into the toe space under the cupboard. I used to ask myself, as if I were in charge, Which shall I do? Now I just wait to see what I do. Nick Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University [email protected] https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ -----Original Message----- From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Jon Zingale Sent: Monday, June 15, 2020 3:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [FRIAM] alternative response Glen says: I don't think free will is bound with (naive) morality at all. It's all about selection functions. Do I turn this way or that. Do I eat some food, go for a run, or read a book. So, I don't see it as "importing" anything. Free will is all about which things are bound and which things are free (and which things are partially bound ... constrained). I would have to disagree. While I think that *will* more generally has to do with the agency you mention, conversations of *free will* are a kind of pathology that happens in the limit. When we discuss whether or not I have this choice or that, the most trivial philosophical cases are those of selection functions and don't require the full import of FREE will. Again, the discussion of free will is for the benefit of whom? Outside of conversations where we go back and forth about determinism and the degree to which biology is or is not able to exploit indeterminism, the motivating impetus for discussing free will is one of assigning responsibility. -- Sent from: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
