Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Mshepard

Regulars
  • Posts

    6
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Mshepard

  1. Actually the quote "The subconscious is what I believe 'free will' should properly refer to" was from Harrison's post; I was responding to it. Sorry, still trying to figure out the mechanics of replying to sections of previous postings. It's absurd to equate "Free Will" or human volition in anyway with the subconscious because the basic choice to focus or not can never become automatized. One must always choose to exert the mental effort required to raise ones' level of awareness or not to so in the face of an alternative.
  2. "The subconscious is what I believe "free will" should properly refer to; the fact that by everything you choose, you build your own soul" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huh???? Sorry, with all due respect, I don't think you get it. Please reread all the previous posts to your original question. Perhaps I've misunderstood you, but are you suggesting that one's primary choice to focus is generated non-consciously?
  3. Nope, The reason for ones' action presupposes a previous initiation of mental focus, in the primary sense, to arrive at ideological content (reality based if paying full attention). Next, one also has the power to choose freely, whether they will base their actions on this content or not. The choice to focus exists at every step.
  4. Sorry if I hurt your feelings. Perhaps you would receive more constructive dialogue if you post future questions under the Psychology and Self Esteem section.
  5. Your welcome, but if you actually read what I wrote instead of becoming defensive, you would have seen I added two axiomatic concepts to your list: the self and entity.
  6. In regard to metaphysics, there are only three axiomatic concepts - Existence, Identity, and Consciousness. These three are often differentiated from the general usage of the term axiom, by referring to them as the basic axioms. Technically, Causality is a corollary of the axiomatic concept - Identity. Volition, the validity of the senses, entity, and the self - are epistemological axiomatic concepts in the sense that they are self-evident, primaries in regard to any given instance of cognition/conceptualization. However, since metapysics is more fundamental than epistemology, these epistemological axiomatic concepts are, more precisely, corollaries of the three metaphysical axiomatic concepts; specifically, corollaries of the axiomatic concept -Consciousness. Informally, corollaries can and often are referred to as 'axiomatic concepts' and/or 'axioms', however with the understanding that they are not a basic axiom. Also, keep in mind, that an axiomatic concept is not synonymous with axiom; An axiom is a statement that identifies an axiomatic concept in explicit, propositional form. Again, however, you will probably find examples of the two being used interchangeably either erroneously, or more commonly as linguistic shorthand (it's easier to say axiom instead of axiomatic concept). In regard to your question: Objectivism recognizes only 3 basic axioms - Existence, Consciousness, and Identity. in regard to the non-basic axioms (corollaries) those presented in the Objectivist literature are not considered exclusive. Y
×
×
  • Create New...