Goodwill and freewill

Posted by Simon Raggett on 7 September 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: freewill, morality

This note is based on a chapter by Shariff Azim, Jonathan Schooler and Kathleen Vohs in a book I would highly recommended, 'Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will'.

Supporters of the concept that behaviour is deterministic, and that freewill is an illusion have often felt concerned that once this notion leaked out from academia into the general population, behaviour and morals in society at large would deteriorate. People would reason that if they had no control over their actions, there was no point in trying to behave morally or sensibly. Various rather convoluted arguments have been put forward by determinists to avoid this conclusion. Peer group pressure is one means advanced for enforcing morals. However, this does not work so well for actions that may be out of sight of the peer group, and the group itself may sometimes exert a pressure for malign behaviour. Peer group pressure may in fact be more effective in enforcing conformity than morals.

Last year, a study by Kathleen Vohs and Jonathan Schooler showed that participants in the study, who had read a chapter by Francis Crick suggesting that rational, thinking people had long abandoned the idea of freewill, were more likely to cheat in a subsequent maths test that had a built in opportunity to cheat, than were a control group, who had not read Crick's piece. The Vohs/Schooler study would seem to confirm fears that acceptance of determinism could undermine morality.

Reference:-

1.) Vohs, K. & Schooler, J. – The value of believing in free will

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What is this 'mind' stuff?

Posted by Shajan Mathew on 3 September 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: Philosophy

Materialism has an irresistible logic. How do we know something is real unless another person can independently verify it? Real stuff must be objectively represent-able. Measurability is the acid test for reality. Atoms and galaxies pass the test but mind doesn’t. Mind is a mere shadow cast by the complexity of brain chemistry.

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