<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>Jef Allbright wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><B>[...] </B></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "[human agency] is subtly distinct from the</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">concept of free will, the philosophical doctrine that our choices are</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">not the product of causal chains, but are significantly free or</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">undetermined. Human agency entails the uncontroversial, weaker claim</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">that humans do in fact make decisions and enact them on the world."</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">[For Thomas, the above statement indicates why thinking in terms of</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">agency is more coherent and extensible than thinking in terms of will.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Will is more of a special case.]</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Yes, I agree with the rider that will, defined as <FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333" face="Lucida Grande" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.6px;"><A href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/will"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action"</SPAN></FONT></A> </SPAN></FONT>cannot be excluded from qualifying personhood. Free-from-determinism-will makes no sense. <BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px">[...]<FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> Consciousness (and Will) goes along for the ride,</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">not because it's essential, but because it's value-added.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Not essential for life or observable identity, but personality? Without capacity for consciousness you lose your personhood. Someone else might see you as a person, but they have a sad misunderstanding of the facts. -- Thomas </DIV><BR><DIV> <DIV style="text-align: center;"><A href="mailto:Thomas@ThomasOliver.net">Thomas@ThomasOliver.net</A></DIV> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>