Free Will

Tom Abel (abeltd@NERVM.NERDC.UFL.EDU)
Thu, 11 Sep 1997 21:39:27 -0400

As an anthropologist it is interesting to see all this discussion in my In
box. I guess it is more us anthropology folk--who's business it is to
think about historic and present cultures--that are especially sensitive to
the shaping influence that our culture has on us. But do most people
believe that they're perception of the world is the "real" perception of
the world--shared by everyone (or at least all "educated", or "muslim", or
"croatian", or "streetwise", pick your own group)? This is as would be
expected, because that's what culture does, it shapes our perceptions for
us into a mostly coherent, reasonable, model of the world, a view of the
world that seems "natural". Once the world is held constant, I suppose
someone can talk about "free will". But that misses a hell of alot.

So if "free will" is the question, my answer is "don't care". It is FAR
more interesting to study the constraints, to study the structure of our
cultural milieu that shapes the way we see the world. It is then far more
interesting to study WHY our cultural milieu is the way it is. In other
words, to study the way particular cultural systems have evolved. To me,
that's where complex systems theory can be productive. Biological
evolutionary dynamics, cultural evolutionary dynamics, ecosystem dynamics,
these are where the action is. Does indeterminancy play a role--chance,
surprise? Absolutely. That's the lesson from studies of the dynamics of
ecosystems, for example. And it's, no doubt, an important part of the
process of cultural change. But whether this equates to "free will" is not
important to my mind. The philosophers can keep that one.

TA

**************************************************************
Tom Abel Wk: 352-392-4684
University of Florida Fax: 352-846-1726
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/abeltd/
**************************************************************