Here, courtesy of Bill Vallicella, is an appalling story: a young woman who has eaten nothing but chicken nuggets all her life, and was finally taken to the hospital after collapsing. I suppose this is no different from somebody drinking herself to death, but one does wonder what her parents must have been thinking. (Our own son was a very choosy eater, so I understand how difficult it can be — but the lovely Nina and I did at least manage to get a modest variety of groceries into him, and now he’s 6’4″.)
What is also appalling is that this lurid item is what I’m passing along today from Bill’s exceptional website; in particular he has just written a set of three pieces on the “illusion” of free will (here, here, and here) that are far more worthy of comment.
But so swamped have I been with work the past couple of days that I’ll have to pass, for now (other than to say that Bill rightly zeroes in on the distinction between, on the one hand, deliberation and choice — which we certainly are capable of, and are central features of our humanity — and, on the other, non-deterministic, “free” deliberation, which I believe is asking too much).
Do go read them yourself, though. And if you like, we have a linked series of posts of our own on the subject, beginning here.
4 Comments
Dr. V also likes to say that Man ist was er iÁŸt.
It’s certainly too bad there are no other comments. In the end, the three posts give no answer, but mention first versus third person perspective. It looks as if I said something to the same effect in your own series of posts. It depends more obviously on present versus retrospection from the future. The linkage of the determinism issue and the consciousness issue is thought-provoking too, and I guess the closest he comes to an answer.
Yes, I never know what’s going to generate a lot of comments.
Anything that pushes One-eye’s buttons.