[To liven up what might otherwise be considered an overly academic ramble, I am initiating a technique I will call "random search illustration." I take a few words from the first or last sentence of a paragraph before which, or after which, I want to put in an illustration. I search that phrase in Google images and select the first image that seems appropriate. This will also serve to attract the attention of those who are turned off when something is "just words." It is analogous to putting raisins in plain bread. ]
A few days ago I thought of using the name "plogs" for those of my rambling explorations which go into the workings of the mind and other philosophical questions. This would echo the term "blog," derived originally from "weblog."In this new coining I found a number of appropriate associations. Plague + blog (an obvious combination in this time of corona virus pandemic). Philosophy + blog (could also be "phlog").
This, and a remark from a friend, led me to think about how I decide on the subject of a ramble. Which led me to think about my process of thinking and the generally unexamined thought activity by which we reach conclusions and decisions.
I suppose it started with my long general interest in philosophical questions. That's in the background along with my recent interest in the history of philosophy podcasts found at https://historyofphilosophy.net/
In bed, last night and this morning, along with my usual dreamy fantasies, I began thinking about the old question of the tree falling in a forest - whether it makes a sound if no one hears it fall. I think my conclusion was that it was a ridiculous question. It gives an unwarranted primacy to human perception. In my view, if the existence of the sound is dependent on perception by a living creature, then the perception of the fall by an ant would be sufficient. It really "sounds" anthropocentric or egotistical to make human perception the measure of natural activity. So it goes to our definition of "sound." If we define it as the transmission of vibrations through a medium such as air or water, that will occur even if there are no living creatures nearby. If we posit the absence of air or water, then we don't really have a tree. We might as well be asking if a stick of wood "falling" in the vacuum of space makes a sound.
I left the subject of the silent stick and turned my thoughts to the more substantial question of whether human beings have "free will." Here is a case where Wikipedia does not help me much. This will require much study. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will
Before I rose from bed I played with the decision to rise, going back and forth, raising and lowering the down cover "mindlessly" until I just got up, without thinking about it, I think. I achieved no insights.
For now, I start with my personal opinion that I take actions based on my decision to act. And the decision I make is not somehow fixed or predetermined before I make it by factors or forces outside myself. I should mention that outside events play a role in my decisions, of course, when, for example, it is raining and I decide to use an umbrella. (As you will see, for the internal decision process, I will sometimes end up relying on factors that are mine in the beginning but sink into the unconscious over time.)
I am aware of brain research which appears to show that the brain signal directing an arm to move operates at a time BEFORE a person thinks they want to move the arm. In other words, "One significant finding of modern studies is that a person's brain seems to commit to certain decisions before the person becomes aware of having made them. Researchers have found delays of about half a second or more." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_free_will
Whether this relates to decisions about doing things in the remote future (like deciding now to take a nap after lunch) is not known. Nevertheless, it is not clear to me that the fact that my conscious perception/realization of my intention to move my arm lags behind the brain initiating the action, diminishes the operation of my will - because the operation of that will may be UNCONSCIOUS or less than fully conscious though still willful. I think of the physical actions and responses of a champion athlete such as a boxer or ping-pong player.
The preceding paragraph may be inconsistent, self-contradictory nonsense so I am tempted to stop here until my mental powers return.
On the other hand, I am tempted to follow this line of potentially nonsensical reasoning thus: Who said that the operation of one's will need be fully conscious at the time of acting? The fixing of certain objectives by the will may take place a long time before the need for the actualization of that will/decision. In fact, the person may have completely forgotten about the decision or just put it aside on an interior level. This might tie in to the idea of some ancient philosophers that getting in touch with the purest understanding of things was actually an act of REMEMBERING. They called this "Anamnesis."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamnesis_(philosophy)
But I wouldn't go so far as Socrates and Plato to posit that this is a remembering from previous incarnations. It is sufficient if it is a remembering of decisions solidified in the earlier, formative stages of our life. Or, in cases like that of the athlete, solidified in training so that it becomes thoughtless. Possibly, some of these may be inherited, instinctive decisions; although here we may be crossing into the zone of determinism. Perhaps we will end up with a mix of free will and determinism.
I do not have time to go into another theory I have - that, even though we may not have free will and our actions and decisions are predetermined, that turns out to be the functional equivalent of free will, because unpredictable chance always exerts influence on our actions and, therefore, from the point of view of an observer, the final, unpredictable chancy actions are the equivalent of what would result from the operation of free will. I'll hold that line of thought for possible future elaboration. That is my decision...I think. I am certainly ending in a mixed-up state. Sometimes mixing things up can be enjoyable and fruitful.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment