MFs
Some more about will:
To will is assumed to be a special act, or operation, ‘in the mind’, means of which a mind gets its ideas translated into action. Say, for example, I pull the trigger on a gun. This can only happen because first there is a mental act of willing to pull the trigger. (Or you could say a mental act of choosing to pull the trigger.) That’s free will. I, with my mind, freely will my finger to pull the trigger.
The problem with this is that there are two actions in the paragraph above. ‘
1. My mind willing my finger to pull the trigger.
2. My finger pulling the trigger.
And that raises questions about volition itself. Is the first act, my mental act of will, a voluntary or involuntary act of mind? Whether you answer yes or no it leads to absurdities. If I cannot help willing to pull the trigger, it would be absurd to describe my pulling it as ‘voluntary’. But if my will, or choice, to pull the trigger is voluntary then it must arise from a prior volition.
ie.
-1. My mind willing my mind to will my finger to pull the trigger.
And that must also arise from a prior volition.
ie.
-2 . My mind willing my mind to will my mind to will my mind to will my finger to pull the trigger.
And so on ad infinitum.
The idea that our minds, (or intellectual/social patterns) initiate actions (or make choices) is always going to end up in this pattern of eternal regression. It’s an objection to the Cartesian mind-body split put forward back in the 1940s by Oxford metaphysician Gilbert Ryle in ‘The Concept of Mind’. I really recommend anyone whose interested in these things to get hold of it to
read the full arguments.
Diana
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:03:31 BST