asr comments on Morality is not about willpower - Less Wrong

9 Post author: PhilGoetz 08 October 2011 01:33AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (144)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: asr 07 October 2011 04:47:09AM 2 points [-]

And yet, attraction is a choice, by the compatibilist definition.

This isn't true. You can be a compabilist without believing that all mental states are the result of choices. Breathing, for instance, is neurally involuntary. Your breath reflexes will ultimately override a decision to not breathe.

Comment author: PhilGoetz 07 October 2011 02:08:43PM 0 points [-]

The compatibilist definition of choice says that "choice" is the deterministic working-out of "who you are". You could, in principle, work out some sort of division of your actions into categories that have causes within the parts of your brain that you are most fond of, and those that have causes primarily with other parts, like the brainstem. Why would you want to do that?