From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 20 2000 - 18:56:22 MST
Samantha Atkins wrote:
> Do you have the ability to make choices among alternatives? Do we have
> the ability to weigh your words and possibly be persuaded by them that
> you are correct?
Of course you can be persuaded. But whether you are "persuaded" is
not determined internally, but externally. I'm telling you this so as
to convince you, not so that you'll metaphysically Choose to believe
me, not because there's something you do which isn't deterministic or
random or some composition of the two.
In fact, "choice" is really the process of *discovering* what you
want. You think very hard about this when it isn't very obvious what
you want, and you think about it very little when it is obvious what
you want. But what you want is determined externally. So you act
following the orders of these desires, which you don't Choose.
Sometimes you don't even know what your desires are. But you never
Choose them.
As Steve pointed out, sometimes you can choose to change your desires
(e.g. via hypnosis). But if you do so voluntarily, you do so because
you FOUND that you desire to change your desires. So you changed your
desires under the orders of other desires, which you did not select.
All of your behavior is governed by externally determined desires.
Hopefully, you desire to believe this, in which case, you do;
otherwise, you don't.
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings
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