tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post8939622933065101805..comments2024-03-29T04:06:37.402-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: MindlessnessStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-6791105689661558352011-06-17T20:22:16.210-07:002011-06-17T20:22:16.210-07:00A very nice informational blog.Keep on making such...A very nice informational blog.Keep on making such important blog post.Your work is really being appreciated by some one.Debrahttp://tisot-eilat.com/tisot-eilat.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-29864099716846912292011-06-17T05:19:36.470-07:002011-06-17T05:19:36.470-07:00Thanks for your comment, James. I think it would h...Thanks for your comment, James. I think it would have been better if you had offered some evidence for your views, but, so be it. Allow me to offer some of Eagleman's remarks, in his words, from the Atlantic article I linked:<br /><br />1. Here's how he defines the question: "Like your heartbeat, breathing, blinking, and swallowing, even your mental machinery can run on autopilot. The crux of the question is whether all of your actions are fundamentally on autopilot or whether some little bit of you is “free” to choose, independent of the rules of biology."<br /><br />2. This might lead us to believe that he is going to reserve a place for freedom. Here's his statement: "After all, there is no spot in the brain that is not densely interconnected with—and driven by—other brain parts. And that suggests that no part is independent and therefore “free.” In modern science, it is difficult to find the gap into which to slip free will—the uncaused causer—because there seems to be no part of the machinery that does not follow in a causal relationship from the other parts."<br /><br />3. And this on free will: "if free will does exist, it has little room in which to operate. It can at best be a small factor riding on top of vast neural networks shaped by genes and environment. In fact, free will may end up being so small that we eventually think about bad decision-making in the same way we think about any physical process, such as diabetes or lung disease."<br /><br />4. As for the question of whether character enters the picture, Eagleman says this: "The more we discover about the circuitry of the brain, the more we tip away from accusations of indulgence, lack of motivation, and poor discipline—and toward the details of biology. The shift from blame to science reflects our modern understanding that our perceptions and behaviors are steered by deeply embedded neural programs."Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-7024523215997021062011-06-16T10:07:50.752-07:002011-06-16T10:07:50.752-07:00Sounds like you're missing the point entirely ...Sounds like you're missing the point entirely to me. You oversimplify by asking the rhetorical question "is he saying if someone commits a crime, he must have brain damage and therefore cannot be held responsible?" Um...no...he's not.James Coughlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-32867447670149061952011-06-16T06:10:04.385-07:002011-06-16T06:10:04.385-07:00Not only did he fail to take first year philosophy...Not only did he fail to take first year philosophy, he seems to have concluded that, since he is a scientist, he does not have to.<br /><br />Of course, he could have learned it in a first year course in religious studies too.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-49920094181169587022011-06-15T13:18:41.795-07:002011-06-15T13:18:41.795-07:00It is not logical to say "we *should* do such...It is not logical to say "we *should* do such-and-such because humans don't have free will," because *we* are human, if if we don't have free will, then the whole idea of "should" is meaningless. This is all philosophy 101.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.com