Self delusions.Julian Sanchez's well-reasoned review of Owen Flanagan's The Problem of Soul ("Self Delusions,"January) may be further developed on two crucial fronts. First, Flanagan's general contention (as summarized by Sanchez) that "it would not count as an act of free will if some nondeterministic quantum fluctuation In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation is the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space, arising from Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. According to one formulation of the principle, energy and time can be related by the relation n. (used with a sing. verb) The branch of physics that uses quantum theory to describe and predict the properties of a physical system. quantum physics See quantum mechanics. ) presupposes a myopic my·o·pi·a n. 1. A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness. Also called short sight. 2. view of "freedom" and "self-authorship." As posited by the Oriental doctrine of wu wei This article is about the Taoist tenet. For the city, see Wuwei. For the 20th century Taoist philosopher, see Wei Wu Wei. Wu wei (Traditional Chinese characters: 無為 Simplified Chinese characters: 无为) is an important tenet of Taoism that , one may freely--and quite literally--open one's mind to random neurophysiological neu·ro·phys·i·ol·o·gy n. The branch of physiology that deals with the functions of the nervous system. neu inputs and still claim personal responsibility for that act of openness, if not sole authorship for its consequences. On this nontraditional account of free will, we retain self-authorship by virtue of freely deciding to initiate an undetermined "value experiment." Second, even without a libertarian free will we are still, as Sanchez highlights, left with the option of being more or less reflective with respect to determined actions. In this sense, the real "problem of the soul" may turn out to be that we have been focusing on free will rather than free consciousness. Christian P. Erickson San Francisco, CM I find it interesting that reviewer Julian Sanchez, and apparently author Flanagan, conclude that the absence of a permanent "self" is a new insight, a result of modern neuroscience. The notion is, however, at the very core of Buddhism, a religion and philosophy now about 2,500 years old. Almost every word of the review could have been written by a Buddhist, although the citations (Rand, Wittgenstein, Hayek, Nozick) doubtless would have been different. Needless to say, there is a profound role for morality in Buddhism, even without a permanent self, due to (as they see it) the law of cause and effect: karma. To oversimplify o·ver·sim·pli·fy v. o·ver·sim·pli·fied, o·ver·sim·pli·fy·ing, o·ver·sim·pli·fies v.tr. To simplify to the point of causing misrepresentation, misconception, or error. v.intr. , we are punished by our sins, not for them. A Buddhist is as free as a libertarian, though: One's karma is one's history, not one's late; it conditions our actions but does not determine them. Albert S. Kirsch kirsch n. A colorless brandy made from the fermented juice of cherries. [French, short for German Kirschwasser; see kirschwasser. Bal Harbour, FL |
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