Not a trick question: Why is violence bad?

[JoeDawg]

If things will follow from what has gone before, then where does the causal chain begin? Why isn't this a script for predetermination?

Pre-determination implies a teleology. Its really a different concept than determinism, although easily confused.

 

[poor mystic]

I don't believe that atoms have free will either, but neither do I believe that they do not.
The notion that matter is in the control of consciousness is one of the very few sufficient explanations for such observed phenomena as the dual slit experiment.
The question of whether such notions are admissible within Physics would appear to be answerable by any physicist for himself on the grounds of his own experience, for is not Physics the study of that which is?
In the larger forum, debate runs hot but never on this issue, for in accepting that consciousness (especially 'shy' consciousness) may be the fundamental determining force in the world we are left with no means of determining anything at all... our curves and relationships are shown to be evanescent; at the whim of incomprehensible, volitional forces.
I believe that Physics maintains a carefully policed disbelief in consciousness as an explanation for physical behaviour. Did it not, we could have no technology.
Yet the "conscious matter" hypothesis continues to attract all who hear of the double slit experiment; it is a watershed in our understanding of the world around us..

 

[Gokul43201]

Disclaimer #1: I have not read this thread beyond the OP and a few responses.

Disclaimer #2: Not being formally trained in Philosophy, I can not promise that what follows rises to the level of sound philosophical argument.

My opinion is that, as with the truth of a mathematical statement, the truth of any philosophical statement can be determined (modulo Godel) only within the axiomatic structure that it resides in. In other words, one must accept certain philosophical axioms or premises as true (given that they are legitimate, i.e., not mutually inconsistent), and then be able to "derive" the statement in question from these axioms.

I think that for most modern cultures, a relevant premise that is almost universally held as true, is some variant or other of the assertion that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are good things for an individual to be able to have. I also believe the given such a premise, it should be possible to rigorously derive the statement that violence, as defined in the OP, infringes on the above "good", making it "bad".

 

[GeorgCantor]

Pre-determination implies a teleology. Its really a different concept than determinism, although easily confused.

Instead of saying 10 times what free will is NOT, why not actually tell us what free will is, according to compabilism? As far as i can see, compabilism posits an illusion of free-will or soft/weak free will(whatever that means).

 

[SW VandeCarr]

Disclaimer #1: I have not read this thread beyond the OP and a few responses.

I think that for most modern cultures, a relevant premise that is almost universally held as true, is some variant or other of the assertion that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are good things for an individual to be able to have. I also believe the given such a premise, it should be possible to rigorously derive the statement that violence, as defined in the OP, infringes on the above "good", making it "bad".

Gokul

Your view is close to the one I expressed in post 55. However, I don't consider a rigid axiomatic system. Rather, I consider a work in progress governed by a legal code which evolves.

 

[GeorgCantor]

If you manage to unambigously define what 'physical' is, i will unabiguously define what 'spiritual' is.

That's just evasive.

Well no. I asked you to unambiguously define what 'physical' is because it's impossible to define. Actually, it's much more likely that the spiritual(mind, self-awareness and free will) is all that exists, not physical structures in time and space. Consider the following example and let's make it more dramatic so that the philosophical implications of the thought experiment are more obvious to everyone:


We want to test 'physical matter' and prove that it is non-contextual, non-relational, non-observer-dependent, etc. so that we can have evidence that matter is real and Mind is a secondary by-product of matter.

Let the chosen object for our gedanken experiment be your dog which has just died(and you naturally assume the dog existed out there in what you call the 'universe' prior to his/her death). Decoherence is an observed process and a pretty well established fact of nature. The biggest objects that have been put into a superposition are tetraphenylporphyrin molecules which are some 50 times smaller than the HIV virus. Teams are working on larger objects like viruses and bacteria and will likely put them into a superposition within a few years. For the purposes of the thought experiment, let's assume for a moment that we have already overcome the technical difficulties for putting much larger objects into superpositions. The popular opinion is that the physical human body is responsible for the appearance of mind, awareness and free will. So, for the thought experiment we will keep your dead dog at a very low temperature(so that thermal radiation isn't emitted and which-path information could not be obtained and consequently no observer effects be present) and seal off your dog from the environment. Even without running your dog through a double slit experiment to show the interference pattern, we know the quantum behavior is now visible. There is no dog. For as long as we manage to keep your dog in a coherent state, your dog's dead body doesn't exist. Increase the temperature and the quantum effects will disappear and there you have your dog again.

The painful question is NOT where the dog was during those seconds when he/she was gone.The really fundamental question is where the dog was, when the dog was in a decohered state(i.e. seemed to be real and out there)? Don't bother to answer me, that was a rhetorical question. There is no real, non-contextual, non-relational universe 'out there'.

I think we are. Neuroscience is in its infancy, but there are interesting things almost daily with regards to consciousness.

No. We are not making progress on free will at all. You are a primitive human being(like the rest of us), and concerning the issue of free will and self-awareness, you simply don't know what you are talking about.


Most of the issues discussed in the philosophy forum are about asking questions, they are not about giving answers. We don't know what reality is or how reality is(or even who exists and what exists), so most philosophical issues should be approached with the disclaimer that "we mostly don't know what we are talking about on these issues".

 

[poor mystic]

A "legal code" which evolves?

It seems to me that in its completeness, such a code must provide perfect guidance in the matter of how to avoid social disharmony, inefficiency and other troubles. Then isn't that code useful for other purposes?
If the code of behaviour accurately predicts how Jill will feel if Jack does the wrong thing, it must also be useful in determining what the right thing is, for Jack to do.
The code must also provide for Jack, helping Jill (and himself) do the best thing for himself, in every situation.

Then:
The code can become a functional substitute for Jill in Jack's life, and for Jack in Jill's.
The code becomes the decision-maker, for it has been raised above the man, who is thereby disenfranchised of himself, for he may only enact the decisions of the code.

 

[poor mystic]

And, really amazingly. if the code is perfect he only wants to enact the decisions of the cde!

 

[SW VandeCarr]

A "legal code" which evolves?

The code can become a functional substitute for Jill in Jack's life, and for Jack in Jill's.
The code becomes the decision-maker, for it has been raised above the man, who is thereby disenfranchised of himself, for he may only enact the decisions of the code.

You are giving an opinion. I'm referencing to a legal system that actually exists and functions. It's not perfect. That's the point I'm making in post 55. It's a work in progress.

You seem to be saying that we shouldn't have laws. Well, if you prefer anarchy, I suggest you leave this forum because IT HAS RULES.

 

[poor mystic]

"You seem to be saying that we shouldn't have laws"
I have never said that, and in fact my idea that "if the code is perfect he only wants to enact the decisions of the code" only demonstrates a desire for order.

First attempting to distance myself from my upset feelings due to being misrepresented, I ask myself what it is about being (textually) yelled at in the last post that I object to.

Am I upset because rules are being broken? No, I am upset, the broken rules (if they are broken) are of no consequence to me.

 

[apeiron]

Most of the issues discussed in the philosophy forum are about asking questions, they are not about giving answers. We don't know what reality is or how reality is(or even who exists and what exists), so most philosophical issues should be approached with the disclaimer that "we mostly don't know what we are talking about on these issues".

You keep coming at things from a wrong, or at least not useful, perspective.

Yes, we would widely agree that we cannot know the truth of reality in some direct, unmediated, sense. But then what. Do we spend the rest of time shaking our heads sadly, saying we just don't know anything? Or instead get on with modelling reality as best we can discover?

I would take you more seriously on our lack of practical understanding of freewill, self-awareness and other aspects of mind if you could demonstrate some particular familiarity of the many ways in which we do in fact have a good understanding of things.

If you knew what we do know, then you might be able to speak more accurately about what we don't yet know.

 

[kramer733]

Anything that humans deem negative to themselves or anybody is considered "bad" =) so there you have it.

 

[DaveC426913]

Anything that humans deem negative to themselves or anybody is considered "bad" =) so there you have it.

Well ... no. Therein lies the rub.

See, an act that's bad for th do-ee is not necessarily bad for the do-er.

We apply things like the Golden Rule to decide why we think we shouldn't inflict it upon the do-ee, but that's not to be taken for granted. Thus the reason for this thread.

 

[JoeDawg]

Well no. I asked you to unambiguously define what 'physical' is because it's impossible to define.

Something that can be measured and maintains an identity.

But you don't really want a definition, you want spiritual mumbo jumbo.

Actually, it's much more likely that the spiritual(mind, self-awareness and free will) is all that exists

And this is likely because I'm sure you can define 'spiritual' unambiguously. Its only likely, because it suits your fancy.

No. We are not making progress on free will at all.

Actually, the more we know about consciousness in general, the more we know about 'freewill', and we are learning more every day.

Most of the issues discussed in the philosophy forum are about asking questions

Asking questions endlessly is what psychiatrists do, not philosophers... but, then again, you might benefit from the former, since you seem to have reality issues.

 

[JoeDawg]

Instead of saying 10 times what free will is NOT, why not actually tell us what free will is, according to compabilism? As far as i can see, compabilism posits an illusion of free-will or soft/weak free will(whatever that means).

Well its certainly not unambiguous spirituality, but no illusion necessary.

 

[GeorgCantor]

But you don't really want a definition, you want spiritual mumbo jumbo.

You don't consider mind, awareness and free will mumbo jumbo, do you?

And this is likely because I'm sure you can define 'spiritual' unambiguously. Its only likely, because it suits your fancy.

The point was that your 'physical' proposition is in exactly the same boat - unprovable and currently undefinable to the extend of what we experience.

Actually, the more we know about consciousness in general, the more we know about 'freewill', and we are learning more every day.

Oh come on, if we have free will, how would you ever hope to explain it within a deterministic, reductionist point of view?

Asking questions endlessly is what psychiatrists do, not philosophers... but, then again, you might benefit from the former, since you seem to have reality issues.

Actually, most of the issues in this subforum are unanswerable. It's about posing the question and approaching it from multiple directions so that the participants could form a better opinion(FOR THEMSELVES). That precludes making statements like "free will requires determinism" because:

1. You don't know what free will is(you evaded a dozen times the question what free will is and only addressed what free will is not, according to your theory)

2. There is no such thing as weak(soft) free will.

since you seem to have reality issues

You also have a reality issue, you are just more stubborn on your reality issue. Unless you have evidence that shows how to restore the classical realism of the senses, your issue is also there, you are simply not looking at it(or afraid to do so). There are basically 2 set of rules - quantum and classical. And since matter can be put to behave quantumly(i.e. cross the classical boundery of localized objects in time and space) and behave according to the other set of rules, what is it about the classical domain that makes you think it depicts Truths? Your own naivety?

 

[GeorgCantor]

Well its certainly not unambiguous spirituality, but no illusion necessary.

Spirituality is not about measurable quantities. No magic necessary.

 

[GeorgCantor]

You keep coming at things from a wrong, or at least not useful, perspective.

Yes, we would widely agree that we cannot know the truth of reality in some direct, unmediated, sense. But then what. Do we spend the rest of time shaking our heads sadly, saying we just don't know anything? Or instead get on with modelling reality as best we can discover?

I consider free will to be one of the fundamental ingredients of reality. Free will being the starting point for our investigations, we have to define where the answers are coming from - from deterministic internal processes(no free will) or from emergent behavior. I consider the former an attempt to nullify all the knowledge we have about reality, hence my issue with that approach.

I would take you more seriously on our lack of practical understanding of freewill, self-awareness and other aspects of mind if you could demonstrate some particular familiarity of the many ways in which we do in fact have a good understanding of things.

If you knew what we do know, then you might be able to speak more accurately about what we don't yet know.

Could you cite some reference(s) on what you think you know about free will(preferrably research that doesn't conlcude that free will is an illusion)?

 

[GeorgCantor]

Well no. I asked you to unambiguously define what 'physical' is because it's impossible to define.

Something that can be measured and maintains an identity.

Does a molecule put in a coherent state maintain 'identity'?

 

[JoeDawg]

You don't consider mind, awareness and free will mumbo jumbo, do you?

No, I consider them to be interesting philosophical questions.

Spirituality is not an answer. Its a nonsense cop out.

The point was that your 'physical' proposition is in exactly the same boat - unprovable and currently undefinable to the extend of what we experience.

There is a difference between something being unproved, and something being complete nonsense. When we throw reason out the door, as one must, with magical concepts like spirituality, then its not about proof or lack thereof, its about empty rhetoric and appeals to emotion.

Oh come on, if we have free will, how would you ever hope to explain it within a deterministic, reductionist point of view?

I don't think I ever mentioned reductionism. Feel free to point out where I did this.

Causation is an observable phenomena. The fact we don't entirely understand it doesn't mean we should disregard it in favour of magic. That is just anti-rational rhetoric.

That precludes making statements like "free will requires determinism"

Well it does, sorry for your luck.

You can't make a choice, if what results from your action is random. The choice you make must cause the effect you intend, or there is no choice... there is just random event after random event. And people make choices based on their experience, their history.

No amount of appeals to supernatural magic will change that.

Unless you have evidence that shows how to restore the classical realism of the senses, your issue is also there, you are simply not looking at it.

And your solution is that quantum mechanics is spiritual? LOL. Good luck with that.

 

[GeorgCantor]

Causation is an observable phenomena. The fact we don't entirely understand it doesn't mean we should disregard it in favour of magic. That is just anti-rational rhetoric.

'Magic' is actually more sound than "we don't have free will" because of determinism. Free will is as much magic as is anything else that we don't understand.

You can't make a choice, if what results from your action is random.

This isn't about the randomness-determinism dichotomy. It's about a new emergent entity all together, that if it exists, isn't bound to the laws of physics as we know them.

The choice you make must cause the effect you intend, or there is no choice... there is just random event after random event. And people make choices based on their experience, their history.

Funny that you think what you just posted was the result of internal processes over which you have no control. Then this thread is done. There is no good and bad, all events will take place because there is no separate identity("I") that could interfere.

No amount of appeals to supernatural magic will change that.

If magic is defined as that which is unknown, then almost everything is magic.

And your solution is that quantum mechanics is spiritual? LOL. Good luck with that.

I said that existence is more likely spiritual, now you say i implied qm is spiritual. There is just one conclusion to be drawn from this line of "reasoning" - that existence equals quantum mechanics. If i could borrow your own rhetoric - "LOL. Good luck with that".

 

[GeorgCantor]

The whole "freewill-awareness-mind" confusion is likely to go the route of spacetime - i.e. the physical brain being not a fundamental concept of reality, but emerging from more basic rules and principles. If we can find a "background-independent" approach to mind, then we may(hope to) find the whole truth about existence and the phenomenal reality of experience, that would include the mysterious and elusive "I". Of course, neither the background independent approach towards a working GUT is near, and less so the emerging 'physical' brain(though in an emergent spacetime, every object, incl. the physical brain, would be emerging from the fundamental dynamics of some X,Y,Z entities, or from a master equation of the Mandelbrot set sort, from the mind of God, etc.).

 

[apeiron]

Could you cite some reference(s) on what you think you know about free will(preferrably research that doesn't conlcude that free will is an illusion)?

Sure.

http://www.dichotomistic.com/mind_readings_JCS%20freewill%20article.html

 

[GeorgCantor]

Sure.

http://www.dichotomistic.com/mind_readings_JCS%20freewill%20article.html

I took the time to read the whole article but can't find the gist of the argument. The author seems to be confused(which should be the norm and shows he understands the nature of the phenomenon). For instance:

"In its strange way, human choice is indeed determined - it is socially determined because the cognitive and even emotional framework within which we make our choices is culturally evolved and inserted into us via social learning (Harré and Gillett, 1994). And yet this social script demands that we feel autonomous and so have some capacity to rebel."

Nothing about the "social script" demands that we feel autonomous. This is a bare assetion that has no counterpart in Nature. Moreso, if human choice is determined in a bifold way by the chemical reactions in the brain and the social interactions, then there is no place for free will. The author doesn't address this issue and simply ignores it.



A few sentences below, you find the following(which sounds more like prose):

"Finally, in a broader sense, culture does actually free us from the 'locked into the moment' minds of an animal. The social world into which we are born provides us with a highly polished machinery of language and the thought habits that words and grammatical structure enable. We become equipped to take a step back from the pressing flow of the moment and pursue the private traffic of images and plans that make us thinking, self-aware, individuals. And while it may be a fact that we use our mental independence from the moment mostly to apply a social filter to our actions, we are still undetermined - free to consider options - in a way that animals are not."

Here the author somehow concludes(contrary to what was stated above) that our actions are undetermined(which i agree with) but I fail to see the "explanation" or how his paper is supposed to ellucidate the topic of free will. There doesn't appear to be an argument and this is hardly surprising. For those who seek a description of the phenomenon, this paper will probably come in handy.

 

[Galteeth]

At some point in moral systems, we have to start with a priori assumptions. A common one is that one's own desire to exist and desire not to die (and not to have certain others die) should be recognized in others on the basis that others have the same preferences and those should be respected if we wish others to respect ours. There is no absolute "truth" to this in the objective sense, but utilization of such axiom based moral systems is mutually beneficial.

 

[poor mystic]

Why is violence bad?
We need to look after one another 'round here. It's dangerous, and without one another, we're ******.

 

[DaveC426913]

Why is violence bad?
We need to look after one another 'round here. It's dangerous, and without one another, we're ******.

Ok, this thread isn't about mere platitudes.

The question is not a practical one (what does it mean to our day-to-day); it is an academic one (what does it mean in principle).

 

[CRGreathouse]

The question is not a practical one (what does it mean to our day-to-day); it is an academic one (what does it mean in principle).

Yes, that. I'm curious about how to extend commonly-accepted standards to unusual situations. If there was a sapient nonhuman species, how should humans treat them? If psychics were efficacious, what privacy implications are there? etc.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Why is violence bad?
We need to look after one another 'round here. It's dangerous, and without one another, we're ******.

But why? One basic principle here seems to be some kind of altruism or expectation of reciprocity, but I can't quite tease it out.

 

[apeiron]

Nothing about the "social script" demands that we feel autonomous. This is a bare assetion that has no counterpart in Nature. Moreso, if human choice is determined in a bifold way by the chemical reactions in the brain and the social interactions, then there is no place for free will. The author doesn't address this issue and simply ignores it.

How do you define freewill? What essential aspect is there to it that this article fails to address?

 

[GeorgCantor]

How do you define freewill? What essential aspect is there to it that this article fails to address?

I define it as in the duality brain-mind. The mind is the emergent entity that is also the self-aware "I" that supervenes on the brain and has free will. It is also the entity that dreams, thinks and seeks meaning. It's sad we can't capture this emergent 'entity' that appears to be the essence of all reality. It's clear to me, self-awareness will never be reduced to interactions of electrochemical processes in the brain. Free will and the self-awareness of matter are totally mind-bending in and of themselves. I have deep conceptual problems reconciling the materialistic/reductionistic paradigm with those 2 phenomena, so i don't expect progress unless we move past the current paradigm that is also a distorted view of how the world is.

"I think therefore i am" is a correct statement and courts of law correctly assume you have free will when they charge you for wrong doing(hence the answer to the OP). You can think of free will as a god-like ability, the ability to be free to a certain extent from the laws of physics as we know them. Free will is the defining characteristic of the entity that writes this post and seeks to spread ideas and meaning. You don't believe you are deterministic electric current flowing around synapses, do you?

 

[apeiron]

You can think of free will as a god-like ability, the ability to be free to a certain extent from the laws of physics as we know them. Free will is the defining characteristic of the entity that writes this post and seeks to spread ideas and meaning.

OK, so you define freewill as unphysical and above the laws of physics. That would indeed make it very hard for us to talk about a physically natural explanation .

But what warrants such a belief (when a physically natural explanation appears to account for all that we actually observe)?

Remind me of the ways exactly that we are free from the laws of physics as we know them. Be specific, and provide references if you can.

You don't believe you are deterministic electric current flowing around synapses, do you?

Nor a result of random QM or chaotic processes. I've said clearly enough that random~determinism is the kind of physical dichotomy that makes sense in modelling micro-physics, but not complex systems. Here the modern literature would talk about autonomy, intentionality, and other kinds of constructs.

Random~determined is simply irrelevant as "emergence" produces new properties at higher, more complex, levels of physical organisation.

You may dispute this. But first you have to show you understand it.

 

[GeorgCantor]

OK, so you define freewill as unphysical and above the laws of physics. That would indeed make it very hard for us to talk about a physically natural explanation .

But what warrants such a belief (when a physically natural explanation appears to account for all that we actually observe)?

No physical explanation is able to account for self-awareness and free will.

Remind me of the ways exactly that we are free from the laws of physics as we know them. Be specific, and provide references if you can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_emergence


"Strong emergence says that if systems can have qualities not directly traceable to the system's components, but rather to how those components interact, and one is willing to accept that a system supervenes on its components, then it is difficult to account for an emergent property's cause. These new qualities are irreducible to the system's constituent parts"

Nor a result of random QM or chaotic processes. I've said clearly enough that random~determinism is the kind of physical dichotomy that makes sense in modelling micro-physics, but not complex systems. Here the modern literature would talk about autonomy, intentionality, and other kinds of constructs.

Random~determined is simply irrelevant as "emergence" produces new properties at higher, more complex, levels of physical organisation.

You may dispute this. But first you have to show you understand it.

Yes, 'emergence' is the word. It seems we are in agreement. Free will exists and since it's an emergent property, it's not directly reduceable to the sum of its parts. What the laws of physics as we know them say, does not hold for strong emergent behavior.

 

[apeiron]

Yes, 'emergence' is the word. It seems we are in agreement. Free will exists and since it's an emergent property, it's not directly reduceable to the sum of its parts. What the laws of physics as we know them say, does not hold for strong emergent behavior.

I put emergence in quotes for a reason. The bottom-up view of emergence is one approach - the reductionist. My approach is based on systems literature and is about the interaction of the top-down (constraints) and the bottom-up (construction). This is the most natural way to talk about the brain and other examples of complex adaptive systems.

So we both agree reductionism is inadequate. But you are not addressing something different, the systems approach, where people talk about different qualitative concepts such as autonomy.

 

[JoeDawg]

'Magic' is actually more sound than "we don't have free will" because of determinism. Free will is as much magic as is anything else that we don't understand.

OK, the original issue was whether or not freewill *could be* compatible with determinism, there is a major philosophical branch that believes it can be, and is. The fact you disagree with it is irrelevant. And the fact you rely on spirituality as a defense tells me you don't care about accuracy, only using the facts to support your ideology.

It's about a new emergent entity all together, that if it exists, isn't bound to the laws of physics as we know them.

Emergence, while interesting, is also much abused. Regardless, just because it isn't bound by physical laws as we currently understand them, doesn't mean its supernatural. If emergent phenomena exist, I see no reason they couldn't be described by physical laws. In fact, they would have to be if the universe is at all consistent. That doesn't equal reductionism, by the way.

Funny that you think what you just posted was the result of internal processes over which you have no control.

When did I say that, in fact, I am in complete control. The internal processes ARE ME.

If magic is defined as that which is unknown, then almost everything is magic.

Not sure why anyone would define magic that way... but whatever.

I said that existence is more likely spiritual, now you say i implied qm is spiritual.

No, you said freewill was spiritual because we don't understand it, and most physicists would agree we don't understand QM... therefore it must be spiritual too.

All you are doing is inserting 'spiritual' into anything you don't understand.