(First off, finding this thread immediately after explaining on another thread what a P-Zombie is was just bizarrely coincidental!)
Janx, I think you're confusing "Free Will" with some other concept, perhaps "Personality." You bring up an interesting topic, though. I wouldn't personally be bothered by the idea of not having free will... after all, if I can't see the strings controlling me, and can't even perceive their effect on me, why give a damn? Would it even make a difference for me? And, as Umbran (who I have observed over the years to be a very bright guy) already pointed out, even if I DID object, wouldn't that objection have been predetermined anyway? If we
do lack Free Will, but
don't have any resultant sense of loss of control because of it, who cares?
But conscious understanding of the motivations behind all of our decisions is not a matter of free will (or lack thereof.) No, most people don't actually consciously understand the reasoning behind most of the decisions they make. That, however, does not mean that there ARE no motivations behind those decisions, nor that we lack the free will to make them. It just highlights the fact that we don't always understand our own motivations... or even
usually understand them. We actually usually don't understand a lot of, maybe even most of, our own motivations, unless we take the time to analyze them. And if we
were always aware of all of our own motivations, and if we
did take the time to sift through, sort out, and logically think through all of our opinions and decisions, a lot of us would probably have very different thoughts on a lot of subjects.
And we would all live in a world full of much nicer and more reasonable people.
Actually, almost everyone DOES, at one time or another, do exactly that very thing; stop, think about a past decision, try to understand our own motivations for making that decision, and then wish we had made a different choice... it is called
regret. And everyone has experienced it.
That is actually pretty much the core of what psychological counseling is; siting down with someone trained in how people think, and, with their help, going back through our own thoughts and feelings in order to try to better understand why we think and feel that way. It can also help us to better understand ourselves so we will take the time to think about and decisions make better ones in the future.
But about that study you mentioned; I'm fairly certain that I'm familiar with it, and the point of the study wasn't actually all that startling or important. The study was only about emotional reactions to people, first impressions sort of thing, and how they are formed quickly and tend to take a lot to change. It wasn't about total thought processes or cognition in general. The results of that study don't apply to how we think about everything in general (in other words, the study was
not saying that every decision we make is a snap decision that isn't subject to change after introspection and consideration.) We are emotional creatures, that's a fact. But that fact doesn't imply that we don't have the free will to make decisions, or to change them later. Our emotions influence our decisions, yes, but, for most people, unless we are put into a highly emotional state, they aren't the sole (or even most important) factor in our decisions.
I've read Mr' Adams' opinions (on several matters) and his views on this subject are... a little simplistic, shall we say? (as are his views on a lot of other things, as well... ) I would advise you not to put too much stock in what he has written. His little piece on Free Will was trite, but didn't really have a lot of weight to it.
Yes, we are affected by the environment and yes, that can have an effect on how and what we think. Does that mean that we have no free will? No, not really. Does the fact that we can't talk when the language center of our brain is being disrupted mean that we have no free will? No, not really. Does the fact that our desires are limited by the physical nature of the universe mean that we don't have free will? No, not really. Does the fact that we can't flap our arms and fly, even though we might REALLY REALLY want to, mean that we don't have free will? No.
And all that that really means is just this: we are physical beings composed of matter; our thoughts are affected by the matter of which we are composed; the matter of which we are composed can be affected by the environment in which we exist; our free will does not have boundless effect on our environment; and we are not capable freely of altering the physical nature of the universe by act of free will alone. And really, hopefully none of that should be much of a shock to most people.
(Now, if someone happens to be a Psionicist and actually is capable of altering the physical nature of the universe solely by act of free will, then these things, of course, do not apply to them. And I would like to meet them to begin lessons right away!
)
I know I got a bit wordy and pedantic here, but this is what I focused on in college, psychology and philosophy, and especially the areas where they connect, like this, and I've spent a little bit of time thinking about this stuff.
Plus, I've been awake for about 20 hours straight at this point due to insomnia, and my mind is getting kinda foggy... I hope this wasn't totally incoherent, and REALLY hope that I didn't offend anyone; if I did I profusely and sincerely apologize!
