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The illusion of free choice also implies dualism.

שו”תCategory: philosophyThe illusion of free choice also implies dualism.
asked 7 years ago

Greetings to the esteemed Rabbi,
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions.
Regarding free choice: In your book The Science of Freedom, you mainly attack the materialist-determinist method. I want to argue, or rather ask about the fact that perhaps there is no free choice even if we have a soul, there is a second dimension of reality, dualism, etc.
When you read this question, you read and understand it, you have no choice but to understand it. That is, you do not choose when you understand things in reality. Even when you desire something, you simply desire it, you did not choose to desire it, and therefore you did the thing you desired. (Desire is also the desire to go on a diet and not just to eat cake). The same goes for all emotional actions, whatever they may be, the sum of your data led you to do one action and not another, and it simply appeared to you consciously later. My argument is that first came the desire, some kind of inner force that stems from the totality of the circumstances of your life, and then came the “choice” to do the same thing. This is about mental actions.

Most motor actions are performed without us being aware of it (driving, etc.), and Libet’s experiments and other experiments conducted since then show that even in simple motor actions, a person’s choice can be predicted at least a few hundred milliseconds in advance.
So if both motor actions are deterministic and so are mental actions of emotions, understandings, desires, etc., what is left for us in terms of free choice?


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מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago
I answered all of this in great detail in the book. I wrote there explicitly that dualism does not mean libertarianism. That is, deterministic dualism is possible. The point is that if you assume dualism, there is no reason to be deterministic (because there is no longer a commitment to the laws of nature/physics). Therefore, it is more reasonable to stick with the libertarian intuition. Everything you’ve described here is inclinations. The libertarian doesn’t deny the existence of inclinations, he just claims that inclinations influence but don’t determine. The bottom line is that everything is determined by your initial intuitions. There are no arguments one way or the other (but in the last chapter I offer some thought experiments that will help you examine what your intuitions are).

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