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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy,net.religion
Subject: Re: More levels of explanation and definitions of free
Message-ID: <1333@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 27-Jul-85 13:07:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1333
Posted: Sat Jul 27 13:07:37 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Jul-85 06:15:06 EDT
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>>>                               You can't make changes  in  yourself  if
>>> there is an internal conflict concerning the changes.  [PEASE]

>>But I *want* to want to like apricots.  It would be real neat, I mean, if
>>the corner store had only apricots on a snowy day, I wouldn't go hungry,
>>but I can't get myself to even want to like them.  If I am really determined,
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>I suppose I could learn to want to like them, and then eventually want to
>>like them, and then maybe even like them.  But the fact that I am unable
                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>to want to want to do this thing, implies something about human brain
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>function that seems to bode ill for any notion of free will. [ROSEN]

> No, thats not true.  Who's to say what the real  reason  is  that  you
> don't  like  apricots.  Not  me.  At  least  not  when I haven't had a
> chance to psycoanalyze you.  And as  I  said  above  (in  my  previous
> posting),  you cannot make a change in your response to something when
> you have an internal conflict about  making  that  change.  From  your
> paragraph above, it sounds like you have a conflict about it. [PEASE]

But what does "liking" or "not liking" something mean?  Is it necessarily,
as Jeff Sargent put it, a biochemical direct thing (something about my
taste buds and nervous system that automatically sends the sensation of
apricot chemicals to the "UGGGGHH!" center of my brain), or could it be
that I associate, cognitively but subconsciously, the sensation of tasting
apricots with "UGGGGHH!"?  Is that what "internal conflict" means?
-- 
Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen.
					Rich Rosen    pyuxd!rlr