At , Marchal wrote:
>Gisle Tangenes wrote:
>
>>If by free will you mean only your own ability to make decisions, it's hard
>>to see how determinism could hamper it. My oven is itself producing heat
>>however much it was predetermined. Similarly, you can make decisions even
>>though the content of those decisions are predetermined by the laws and
>>constants of physics: All it takes is for your option set to be >1 in the
>>relevant situations. Thus free will as decision-making is completely
>>possible also in a deterministic single universe, and there should be no
>>need to invoke MW.
>
>I definitely agree with this. Those interested in the reasons why can
>search the archive with the key word "free will" or "clinton" for
>some of my old posts on that subject.
>I agree that free will has something to do with downward causation, and
>I think our *feeling* of free will is linked to the fact that we cannot
>be aware of the way the downward causation proceeds, but also that
>we can be aware that we cannot be aware of such links.
That's a clear way to put it, I think.
>
>>QM does not
>>take you from "is" to "ought" any more than do General Relativity or
>>Thermodynamics.
>
>OK. Note that QM does take us from "is" to "could" and, amazingly,
>from "could" to "is".
Yes. But here I referred to Deutsch' table 13.1 (p. 339), wherein the
statement "It was the right decision" is given the following 'physical
interpretation':
"Representations of the moral or aesthetic values that are reflected in my
choice
of option X are repeated much more widely in the multiverse than
representation of other values". This equation is senseless. Deutsch adds
to the confusion by
denying that he attempts to _define_ moral or aesthetic values in terms of
such physical representations (ibid.). Then what is he doing, exactly? I
take it that (some copies of) Deutsch made a strange but excusable slip.
The literary theorist Cristopher Norris makes however much song and dance
about this little slip in a wordy paper annoyingly called "Should
Philosopher's Take Lessons From Quantum Theory?" (current issue of
*Inquiry*). He there dismisses Deutsch and MW-QM generally, apparently
without any comprehension of the autonomous complexity argument. Intending
to reply, I would be grateful if someone volunteered for a browse when it's
ready. Will return to this in January.
--
Gisle Tangenes
>
>
>Bruno
>
>
>
> Bruno MARCHAL Phone : +32 (0)2 650 27 11
> Universite Libre Fax : +32 (0)2 650 27 15
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Received on Wed Dec 15 1999 - 08:57:47 PST