If the rich could hire someone else to die for them, the poor would make a wonderful living -Jewish Proverb
Howdy Comrades!
Truth rides a dead pony, but the Doctor of Love walks. Right into your hearts! If I had anymore passion they would call me "The Smooth Machine" as it is they call me "Butt-Ass"
Shit. I have been reading some papers on the old Freewill/Determinism debate. I am going to have to side with the old Captain Beefheart Spinoza when he says: "Those therefore, who believe that they speak, are silent, or do anything from the free decision of the mind, dream with their eyes open."
Think well upon the dream reference my friends. Think well indeed. For the only convincing argument I've ever heard that supports a belief in freewill, is the seeming experience thereof. That is, it sure as hell seems like one freely chooses what to do, eat, and whatnot. Yet, we also have this same experience of choosing when we dream; which is a mode of thinking not often considered free. For example, when chased by a dream monster, it feels like you choose which way to run, to fight, to piss yourself and so on. But no one really thinks in your dreams that your free will is engaged in deliberation. I mean shit, we all do crazy things in our dreams that we would never do while awake. For many of my readers this means having gay sex. The point is, the experience of free choice exists even when we do not believe we exercise it--like in our dream judgments and decisions. Spinoza asks then, are we to believe in two modes of decision? One fanciful and one free and real? Or rather is it possible that all experiences of freedom can be traced to the same phenomena- a lack of knowledge of the causes of our actions and thoughts. Maybe. How else can we explain someone choosing to listen to Jeff Stinko and Simple Plan?
Truth rides a dead pony, but the Doctor of Love walks. Right into your hearts! If I had anymore passion they would call me "The Smooth Machine" as it is they call me "Butt-Ass"
Shit. I have been reading some papers on the old Freewill/Determinism debate. I am going to have to side with the old Captain Beefheart Spinoza when he says: "Those therefore, who believe that they speak, are silent, or do anything from the free decision of the mind, dream with their eyes open."
Think well upon the dream reference my friends. Think well indeed. For the only convincing argument I've ever heard that supports a belief in freewill, is the seeming experience thereof. That is, it sure as hell seems like one freely chooses what to do, eat, and whatnot. Yet, we also have this same experience of choosing when we dream; which is a mode of thinking not often considered free. For example, when chased by a dream monster, it feels like you choose which way to run, to fight, to piss yourself and so on. But no one really thinks in your dreams that your free will is engaged in deliberation. I mean shit, we all do crazy things in our dreams that we would never do while awake. For many of my readers this means having gay sex. The point is, the experience of free choice exists even when we do not believe we exercise it--like in our dream judgments and decisions. Spinoza asks then, are we to believe in two modes of decision? One fanciful and one free and real? Or rather is it possible that all experiences of freedom can be traced to the same phenomena- a lack of knowledge of the causes of our actions and thoughts. Maybe. How else can we explain someone choosing to listen to Jeff Stinko and Simple Plan?
posted by Old Stallion at 11:35 AM
4 Comments:
I'm reading some William James right now. He's got a free will essay, but I think he's at odds with your man Spinoza. I'll get back to you on that. Right now, I don't know whether I chose to drink 9 Pabst Blue Ribbons or whether they chose me. Whoopty!
I think you only had eight, babe, because I had four. You are such a lush...
The interesting consequence for philosophy is that free-will is almost universally considered to be a intractable conceptual problem, yet nearly every account of reason, agency, ethics, requires the act of deliberation to be significant..For example, the entire existentialist account is built upon the irreducibility of our freedom. Same with any liberal view of autonomy, rights, punishment etc. I think I prefer Spinoza's simple denial of the phenomenon entirely. I am beginning to think that freedom is an inadequate primitive, and loyalty to its conceptual integrity leads to the famous philosophical paradoxes everywhere else.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home