Dan Dennett on Free Will & The Self

A clip of Daniel Dennett discussing free will and the self from within a materialist framework. This comes from a 2015 documentary on Dennett.

#Philosophy #Dennett #Determinism

[emanuelradu]

This guy is more obscure than some wanna be Deepak Chopra

[semarugaijin]

What is he driving? I can't quite figure it out

[dukeallen]

Ah the senses of driving an analog car with adequate power, windows down, through beautiful terrain. Appreciate your thought sharing Dan.

[letdaseinlive]

Making decisions isn't "miraculous". He's a crackpot. He simply pretends something we have direct knowledge of is "miraculous" in order to discredit it in favour of the theory of mechanical physics and its metaphysical canons.

[Jalcolm]

Will has to be free so that a merciful and loving God can punish you for all eternity for your sin. God gave you free will for exactly this purpose. Thanks, God.

[Tymbus]

I suppose free will could be considered as a description of a process much like an organ. So we recognise the heart as being an organ, having its own particular function. We can even see the apparent boundaries of the organ, and yet these are somewhat arbitary since the heart only functions within systems it is a part of. Free will is, as Dennett says, caught up in history, the shapes of cognition and so on. We put arbitary boundaries around the process of excercising free will.

[krumbergify]

What does the term ”free” add to ”free will”? What do you want to be free from? Your genes? Your childhood? Your memories? Your friends? If we remove all these, what is left of ”you”?

Your ”will” is ”free” enough to express what is ”you” but it’s not free from ”you” :)

[resiliencewithin]

Majority of philosophers today agree on the position of compatibility.

[notanemoprog]

I want to see Daniel and Sabine fight!

By the way,






























THERE IS *NO* FREE WILL IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM

[AlexanderLayko]

"The decisions I make exist independent of causality, antecedence, brain chemistry, and determinism because they just do okay? Something something quantum mechanics qualia Heisenberg uncertainty principle emergent properties. I am very smart."

[kellykizer]

I see it like a menu, you may not have the freedom to choose what's on the menu but your free to choose from what there is to choose from on the menu.

[KaraGhounKhan]

demonstrably vacuous
pitiful
what a waste of mental activity

[helloInternets]

Dennet's "Elbow Room" is a great exploration of the varying definitions of free-will. While it does explain the compatibilist position well, Compatibilism presents such a neutered conception of free will, its hard to see why it preserves it at all.

Hume is considered to be a compatibility and he's an OG so while I remain a hard determinist, I can respect my boi Hume.

[mojdemarvast]

I used to think that those who have the ability of moving, have the will power...then i thought the earth moves, rotating and turning around the sun .., why the earth is not given the power of will to change direction to stop?!
I thought maybe it is because the earth is part of something bigger: the solar system. “There” is where earth is not only itself but ourselves. So maybe a sense of essential belonging is an eternal will to choose obedience...
If i belong to a very organized and sustainable system i abide by the obligations.
I should be “there”.

[billzepp]

Yep well if you actually had free will you could forgive those people but because there is no free will of course their effects must inspire causes in you. Lol

[DawsonSWilliams]

Much like a charlatan from the Ancient Greek world he will be forgotten. If he is lucky, perhaps he’ll survive as a footnote in some Library of Babel.

[pluto]

I liked that time when Bret Weinstein showed Sam Harris how there is such a thing as free will. 🤣

[Doctor.T.]

I'm not sure Dan, if that answers the question of free will in a teleogical sense. But always good to listen to you. Also I'm not sure that taking responsibility is a social construct to deal with one's actions ... not whether those actions are a result of free will.

[billzepp]

The wise and just holding me responsible are of course wise and just them selves 😮😅

[bmxt]

Who else thought: "why is there Letterman in my recommendations?"