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My understanding is valid
:The only way to attack Hume here is on the nature of causation. You claim, without support, that Hume's problem is a materialist one, but this is just not the case. Even if what "causes" our choices is our willing, if there's a genuine causal relationship, there's no freedom in our willing. It's a nasty little problem indeed. The best way out is probably a quasi-Aristotelian move to posit that each free individual is an uncaused causer, but there are some severe problems there that I'm sure you can see. [[User:StevenK|StevenK]] 18:47, 8 December 2008 (EST)
:The only way to attack Hume here is on the nature of causation. You claim, without support, that Hume's problem is a materialist one, but this is just not the case. Even if what "causes" our choices is our willing, if there's a genuine causal relationship, there's no freedom in our willing. It's a nasty little problem indeed. The best way out is probably a quasi-Aristotelian move to posit that each free individual is an uncaused causer, but there are some severe problems there that I'm sure you can see. [[User:StevenK|StevenK]] 18:47, 8 December 2008 (EST)
::I don't think I misunderstood. I simply disagree with the idea that '''your choices are caused'''. Nothing "causes" you to choose to come to CP and start an argument about philosophy. Rather, you '''decide''' to do it. The essence of free will (and what links it to aspects of ethics such as responsibility) is your ability to make a choice. If you can't choose - if you are nothing more than an automaton, then you are not a moral agent at all. Robots aren't convicted of crimes, or given prizes. No one praises a computer that wins a chess tournament; the computer programmer gets the prize. A dog, trained to attack, would not be convicted of assault: rather, the person who made the dog attack is charged.
::The error lies in the false dichotomy between "caused choices" and "random choices". It is only robots and dogs who make caused choices. I hold you morally and ethically responsible for every edit you make on this website. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 10:39, 10 December 2008 (EST)