September 10, 2025
View Full PaperIn defense of our lives as biological machines
Key Points
- The argument presented challenges the concept of free will, emphasizing the role of biological machinery.
- It highlights the nature of conscious choice and its implications on our perception of freedom.
- The discussion reflects on how our lives can be seen as influenced by circumstance rather than pure free will.
- The examination of intuition regarding free will invites reconsideration of personal agency and responsibility.
Abstract
The preceding pieces thoughtfully argue that we possess free will, both of the type that we would want in the moment, and of the type that has determined the sort of person we turned out to be. Moreover, they argue that this overwhelmingly fits our everyday intuition that we can be free at important moments, and that such moments can reflect our ability to consciously choose to amplify or negate the effects of circumstance upon us. In this piece, I heartily and respectfully disagree with all these points.