<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>An interesting approach to the free will problem, and to philosophical problems in general:<br><br>Abstract. Recently in these pages it has been argued that a relatively straightforward version of an<br>old argument based on evolutionary biology and psychology can be employed to support the view<br>that innate ideas are a naturalistic source of metaphysical knowledge. While sympathetic to the<br>view that the ‘‘evolutionary argument’’ is pregnant with philosophical implications, I show in this<br>paper how it needs to be developed and deployed in order to avoid serious philosophical difficulties<br>and unnecessary complications. I sketch a revised version of the evolutionary argument, place it in<br>a new context, and show that this version in this context is not vulnerable to the standard
criticisms<br>levelled against arguments of this general type. The philosophical import of this version of the<br>argument lies not in any metaphysical conclusions it sanctions directly, but in the support it lends<br>to the metaphilosophy of commonsense.<br><br>The ‘‘evolutionary argument’’ and the metaphilosophy of commonsense<br>http://www.springerlink.com/content/b54405n81v378551/fulltext.pdf<br><br></span></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Will Steinberg <steinberg.will@gmail.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Saturday, December 24, 2011 11:32 PM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [ExI] free will<br> </font> <br>
<div id="yiv1255546022"><div>How does one pit the decision to believe in decision versus the compulsion to believe in compulsion? Cannonball//Post sort of stuff.</div><div><br></div><br><br><div class="yiv1255546022gmail_quote">2011/12/25 spike <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:spike66@att.net">spike66@att.net</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="yiv1255546022gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div lang="EN-US"><div><div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div>
<div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div><div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank" href="mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org</a> [mailto:<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank" href="mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Will Steinberg</span></div>
<div class="yiv1255546022im"><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] free will<u></u><u></u></div><div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></div><div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">Or, the decision to disbelieve free will contradicts itself? ;) <u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div><div class="yiv1255546022MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d;">No, I disagree. He had no choice in disbelieving in free will. So if he had any choice he didn’t have any choice. spike<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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