carts and horses
http://www.unisi.it/eventi/practical_philosophy/paper/Mele.pdf
I have been thinking a lot about the implications of an individuals lack of free will. I understand that all this is just theoretical, and for the most part just academic wankery, but IF free will is the equivalent of meaningful noise, then every aspect of human development and society is called into question (at least for me). When you boil all actions down to chemical impulses, is there anything so lofty as the idea of humanness? If we are all animals, and by animals I mean cognitively no different than, say, a wolf or a cat (or any type of highly socialized mammal), can any type of moralization of any type of action be validated?
Are all the things that make us humans (emotions, 'free will', etc) just static in the mind; noise created by our higher functioning, pattern recognizing intelligent brains?
I am beginning to think so.
I have been thinking a lot about the implications of an individuals lack of free will. I understand that all this is just theoretical, and for the most part just academic wankery, but IF free will is the equivalent of meaningful noise, then every aspect of human development and society is called into question (at least for me). When you boil all actions down to chemical impulses, is there anything so lofty as the idea of humanness? If we are all animals, and by animals I mean cognitively no different than, say, a wolf or a cat (or any type of highly socialized mammal), can any type of moralization of any type of action be validated?
Are all the things that make us humans (emotions, 'free will', etc) just static in the mind; noise created by our higher functioning, pattern recognizing intelligent brains?
I am beginning to think so.