more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 3794

[filed under theme 16. Persons / F. Free Will / 2. Sources of Free Will ]

Full Idea

Foreknowledge is what permits control.

Gist of Idea

Foreknowledge permits control

Source

Daniel C. Dennett (Elbow Room: varieties of free will [1984], §3.2)

Book Ref

Dennett,Daniel C.: 'Elbow Room - Free will worth wanting' [MIT 1999], p.54


The 10 ideas from 'Elbow Room: varieties of free will'

Awareness of thought is a step beyond awareness of the world [Dennett]
Foreknowledge permits control [Dennett]
Causal theories require the "right" sort of link (usually unspecified) [Dennett]
The active self is a fiction created because we are ignorant of our motivations [Dennett]
An overexamined life is as bad as an unexamined one [Dennett]
I am the sum total of what I directly control [Dennett]
You can be free even though force would have prevented you doing otherwise [Dennett, by PG]
Rationality requires the assumption that things are either for better or worse [Dennett]
Why pronounce impossible what you cannot imagine? [Dennett]
Can we conceive of a being with a will freer than our own? [Dennett]