Analyze, And Critique Based On The Provided IMPORTANT FACTS (ETHICS ESSAY)
Please state the thesis clearly in the first line.
NB: AND DO NOT USE ANY CITATION.
IMPORTANT FACTS MUST BE FOLLOWED.
read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_free_will, pick one wrong thing the writer says, and explain exactly why it’s wrong (3 pages).
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS
A–thesis must be clearly stated in the first or second line or briefly say what you’re doing at the start of the paper (for instance, <Name> says free will does not exist because decisions are always made subconsciously. I intend to prove that this is incorrect because)
B–You cannot tell me what Libet says, and then tell me what someone else says. You must think about the issue for yourself
C– a person does not need to be aware of deciding at the precise moment the decision is made in order to be in control of that decision
D-It is more reasonable to think that the decision is made by one part of the brain, and then awareness of the decision is made by another part of the brain
IMPORTANT FACTS
The conscious mind is just conscious of stuff. It can’t translate decisions into actions. Another part of the mind does that.
1) Remember that “free will” has two components. There’s the “will” part, which is a person’s ability to to make decisions by use of an organ called the “brain”, and there’s the “free” part, which is the absence of an external coercive force that prevents the person from doing what they would personally decide to do, if the choice was up to them. When you deny the existence of free will, you must make it clear which part you are denying. So, are you denying that there is a part of the human brain that makes decisions (in which case you must deal with all the neuroscience evidence that says that the human brain actually can and does make decisions), or are you denying that the will is ever free, (in which case you must say what this continuous external coercive force is, and how it is that we never actually notice it preventing us from doing the things we want to do.
2) Remember that the brain is the organ people use to make decisions. If a person’s brain makes a decision, that means the person has made the decision. They only way you will ever be able to say that a person made a decision is if they used their brain to make the decision.
3) Remember that consciousness is just being conscious of stuff. The part of the brain that makes you conscious of things is not the part that makes decisions.
4) Remember that it would be really weird if you became aware of a decision BEFORE you made that decision.
5) Remember that consciousness, by itself cannot instigate any behavior. That’s done by another part of the brain, often in response to things we are conscious of.
6) Remember that the brain plans things at least partially based on things it is conscious of (duh), but being conscious of something is just being conscious. Planning is done by ANOTHER PART OF THE BRAIN.
7) Remember that thinking that the brain should make decisions after we become conscious of them implies that we can become conscious of something before that thing has happened, which is physically impossible.
8) Remember that thinking that consciousness can effect a decision one is aware of implies that something can affect a thing that has already happened, which is physically impossible.
9) Most importantly, remember that people who disagree with you do not share your weird belief that a decision has to be made by one’s consciousness (being aware of things) in order to be free, or willed. People who disagree with you think that decisions just have to be made by one’s brain to be willen, and uncoerced to be free.
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