In my opinion, this is well argued, Gregg. I like the idea of “self-conscious determination” — where, of course, it is the whole-person-as-system doing the (contextualized) determining. M. Michael F. Mascolo, Ph.D. Academic Director, Compass Program Professor, Department of Psychology Merrimack College, North Andover, MA 01845 978.837.3503 (office) 978.979.8745 (cell) Political and Interpersonal Conflict Website: Creating Common Ground <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.creatingcommonground.org_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=ChG806sWJo7bYW-sqXwC2iqESnIk66hUQLbpVFU4rV0&e= > Blog: Values Matter <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.psychologytoday.com_us_blog_values-2Dmatter&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=_O9dAYn5p_FvAvlCkRMRDDmeTECUH2zBgCHzMBqKy5I&e= > Journal: Pedagogy and the Human Sciences <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__scholarworks.merrimack.edu_phs_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=Fhr3ITuMKbgXHFnSPVPTHrvMoS-943Tfk8jY2AoCTBc&e= > Author and Coaching Website: www.michaelmascolo.com <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.michaelmascolo.com_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=gnVW-Lb0jckJSUR6E8tOX6oaOeaYCb93SXRoJwKqGkM&e= > Academia Home Page <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__merrimack.academia.edu_MichaelMascolo&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=6PLK4Cd2gvoSadzMR7fc8U5MykHsmQRXVl02SUVeIsY&e= > Constructivist Meetup Series <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.constructivistmeetup.org_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=XNvhJdb79cBu4Hjsj6iz_pDitEJNr-_jXJZ_cvV-eIk&e= > Things move, persons act. -- Kenneth Burke If it's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well. -- Donald Hebb > On Feb 1, 2021, at 1:28 PM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Peter, > > For me the issue is about understanding the nature of “choice” and describing what we mean by “choosing” at the level of Matter-Object, Life-Organism, Mind-Animal and Culture-Person. > > I am not a fan of the concept of “free will”. I don’t know what it means, and I think the strong version blends into equating the self with God. That is, some separate essence that freely decides what to do in a way that would violate the laws of physics. I prefer the concept of “self-conscious determination”. > > Nevertheless, I found the video laughable because it flips it around to say that, because an extreme or common version of free will does violate the laws of physics, then we can say that your behaviors are reducible to the laws/descriptions/mechanisms of physics. That is silly. Rather, we need to be aware that different kind of behaviors take place at different planes of existence. > > At the Matter level, we do not need the concept of “choice”. It is meaningless to say the Earth wants or chooses to go around the sun. > > At the life level/plane, however, there is something there. Cells are complex adaptive systems. There is no magic elan vital substance, but there is a novel powerful arrangement, such that we can consider cells as having “proto-cognition” and they engage in decisions. > > At the level of animals, we see another layer of choice. Indeed, one of the major domains and distinctions in the brain/nervous system is “automatic” versus “voluntary” behavioral control systems. It absolutely is meaningful to say a cat decided to jump out of a tree (voluntary behavioral control systems) versus a cat fell out of a tree. Notice that “voluntary behavioral control” only is a useful concept at the level of the animal, and it contrasts with the more basic physiological processes at the level of Life. > > At the level of persons, self-conscious awareness and explicit anticipation and the fact that voluntary control systems and narratives feedback back on what happens to then cause what will happen means a “strange loop of awareness, anticipation, cause, effect”. It absolutely makes sense to say Person X was responsible for y behaviors and should be held accountable, but was not responsible for x behaviors. Indeed, I make this point in this blog on addiction. <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.psychologytoday.com_us_blog_theory-2Dknowledge_201711_is-2Daddiction-2Ddisease-2Dthe-2Dbrain-23-3A-7E-3Atext-3DThey-2520write-252C-2520-25E2-2580-259CAddiction-2520is-2520defined-2Cstructure-2520and-2520how-2520it-2520works&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4GYTsZSzlyiZ9FPzp3IaYh4fXmatVBGw4SiC1kmzgXE&s=PvfqOjW28EPpWoM2ZEU2_Iis6-89j6p3m7LsEVhFJgA&e= .> > > Self-conscious self-determination is a fundamentally and qualitatively different set of behavioral processes than those that are accidental. Indeed, as Peter Ossario noted, they are the behaviors of persons. However, a “physics only” vocabulary will not be useful in differentiating those properties. This is why I chuckle when the physicists wade into this territory. > > Best, > Gregg > > > From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Peter Lloyd Jones > Sent: Monday, February 1, 2021 1:08 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: TOK 12 minute video on Why No Free Will > > CAUTION: This email originated from outside of JMU. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. > Hi Gregg, > While I fully agree with you that "consciousness is not an autonomous center of control," I do not see that as an argument against free will. I am unsure if you do. > > As per my last note, I think that it is unreasonable that the requirement for behavior to be classified as intentional and autonomous, it must be conscious. As per that note, we can consciously load ourselves with influences for the purpose of creating subconscious behaviors of which we anticipate becoming conscious. I do not see any issue therefore in claiming my subconscious behavior as being mine and of being intentional and purposeful, leading to conscious behavior leading to more subconscious behavior... > > Peter > > Peter Lloyd Jones > 562-209-4080 > > Sent by determined causes that no amount of will is able to thwart. > > > > > > On Feb 1, 2021, at 10:52 AM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: > > Wonderful, Mike. I was hoping you would chime in 😊. > > Here is the abstract of one of the best articles written on the topic: > > Beyond free will: The embodied emergence of conscious agency > Michael F. Mascolo & Eeva Kallio > ABSTRACT > Is it possible to reconcile the concept of conscious agency with the view that humans are biological creatures subject to material causality? The problem of conscious agency is complicated by the tendency to attribute autonomous powers of control to conscious processes. In this paper, we offer an embodied process model of conscious agency. We begin with the concept of embodied emergence – the idea that psychological processes are higher-order biological processes, albeit ones that exhibit emergent properties. Although consciousness, experience, and representation are emergent properties of higher-order biological organisms, the capacity for hierarchical regulation is a property of all living systems. Thus, while the capacity for consciousness transforms the process of hierarchical regulation, consciousness is not an autonomous center of control. Instead, consciousness functions as a system for coordinating novel representations of the most pressing demands placed on the organism at any given time. While it does not regulate action directly, consciousness orients and activates preconscious control systems that mediate the construction of genuinely novel action. Far from being an epiphenomenon, consciousness plays a central albeit non-autonomous role in psychological functioning. > > Best, > G > > > > ############################ > To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:mailto:[log in to unmask]> or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1 <http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1>############################ > To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:mailto:[log in to unmask]> or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1 <http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1> ############################ To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1