Flannel Jesus wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:39 pm
iambiguous wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:22 pm
Flannel Jesus wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 7:41 pmCompatibilism does not mean making exceptions for determinism inside human brains.
What can I say...
Well, there's quite a large range of possibilities.
One is, "You know what flannel, you're right. I've reviewed the links you've posted about compatibilism, and I can't see anything about bifurcated brains with indeterministic pieces in it anywhere, so I'm going to stop saying that from now on". That's one possibility.
Another one is, "Actually, I disagree, and here are the reasons I disagree". You could totally go that direction.
iambiguous wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:22 pm
What
are the "for all practical purposes" implications of that when Mary's brain compels her to have an abortion?
One step at a time. First you have to understand what compatibilism is before you concern yourself with the implications of it. Your current understanding of compatibilism, involving bifurcated brains with indeterministic parts, is in fact not what compatibilists believe. A good step would be letting go of that.
There's a difference between someone who, due to a committment to a philosophical stance, qualifies, in general with something like...
But I could be wrong.
and somone who can in a specific instance
admit they made a mistake or was wrong.
One of Iambiguous' main projects is anti-objectivist and he sees objectivists as being completely certain they are correct.
So officially he contrasts himself with them. He will often end his posts with a general
Unless I am wrong.
Or something similar.
But in practice he cannot admit he is wrong, for reasons unknown.
And here you have him implicitly saying something like 'Oh, it doesn't really matter for Mary, this whole bifuricated brain issue, and her guilt or lack of in relation to her abortion.'
A mature person could manage to admit he or she had made a mistake, concede the point, then focus on what you are saying compatibilism actually is, and then, after understanding that come back to the abortion issue.
I'm not as polite as you. I watch you patiently just come back to the point again and again, while he disrespectfully evades, or earlier mocked, or condescends or even, ironically will take the implicit moral high ground.
I admire your approach. I hope for both your sakes he can manage to admit his error, realize that his whole world doesn't come crashing down, and you both can then, after a while discuss Mary and her abortion in the context of compatibilism and not the odd dualistic philosophy he is arguing against.
And, of course, his being wrong about this point, does not mean his abortion conundrum is somehow solved by compatibilism.