Philosophy, Personal Achievement, and Hard Work

I was going to write about some recent news articles regarding neural pathways for addiction but have to pause to share some good news. Over the weekend we received a call from our older daughter, Amy (that is her on the right), who informed us that she had been admitted to the doctoral program in philosophy at Notre Dame. This was great news as she had wanted this for the past four years and with the degree of competition for so few spots available was unsure of her chances. She is currently in a Master's Degree program at Northern Illinois University which she will finish in May. She has worked very hard for this accomplishment and as her father, I certainly think she is worthy of this personal achievement!

Notre Dame is a Catholic university. We are not Catholic but the program there, as expected, takes seriously the possibility of God and how that might guide our philosophical considerations and discussions. She particularly wanted to work with two professors who are well known for their work, Dr. Alvin Plantinga and Dr. Peter van Inwagen. Dr. Plantinga has written a series of books on what he calls Warranted ChristianBelief in which he outlines his thoughts as to why belief in God can be taken seriously and rationally by philosophers. Dr. van Inwagen has written The Problem of Evil in which he discusses the age old question of how do we reconcile the idea of a loving God with so much evil and suffering in our world. I am very happy that Amy will be able to work with professors of such caliber.

So, I am very proud of Amy, for her hard work, perseverance and dedication and am very happy that this has been rewarded. Amy - you deserve it!

Thought for the day

" A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion".

Francis Bacon

Free Will, Neuroscience, Determinism, and Choice

Do we have free will or is our fate predetermined? This question has been debated for thousands of years. Joining the debate now are neuroscientists who are tending to land on the side of determinism based upon the increasing knowledge we are gaining about how the central nervous system operates. One example is the question of who or what is doing the acting when I move? For instance when I move my arm the transmission from the neocortex (where I do my thinking) actually comes after, not before the arm has moved. Another example is in the case of those who have antisocial or criminal tendencies. We are learning through neuroimaging that their brains are different than a normal brain in terms of how emotions are processed. The argument is that if their brains are different how can they act otherwise and on what basis do we hold them accountable for their actions? These are just a couple of examples.

When I think about the issue I think about how much is predetermined. I have no say as to when I am born, where I am born, my parents, my genetic makeup, the environment that I grow up in, my intelligence level, my socioeconomic class, whether I live in a free country or under a dictator, natural events such as floods and earthquakes, illness or health, how my brain is wired, etc. So I have to admit that I don't have complete free will. I think the better way to put it from my perspective is that while much is predetermined for me I retain the gift of free choice. Throughout each day I am presented with choices to make, the most remarkable to me is how I respond to events, how I respond to adversity, how I respond to good fortune, how I treat my family and loved ones, and how I respond when faced with moral dilemmas. I believe that this power of choice resides in me, that circumstances may be predetermined, but that what I do with these circumstances makes all the difference. So while neuroscience can tell us much about how the brain operates neuroscience without philosophy cannot answer the question of determinism vs. free will.

More on this tomorrow.

Thought for the day

" Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man'.

David Hume

The Examined Life and Recovery Socrates on Addiction

Lately I have been interested in ancient philosophy and have been struck by how much the old philosophers have to teach us about recovery. My interest in this came about because of self defense. My older daughter is a graduate student in Philosophy and I love to argue with her about a variety of topics. She is a great person to argue with as all our arguments are friendly and usually result in my learning new things. My big problem though is that she is a lot smarter than me and her knowledge is much greater! I realize how woefully ignorant I am on a lot of subjects so have been reading the ancient Greek philosophers to catch up and to not always be on the losing side of our discussions.

"The unexamined life is not worth living" says Socrates and I have been thinking about what that means. I am coming to see that one of the reasons for self examination is so that we don't continue to engage in actions which are, unwittingly at times, harmful to those we love. We often don't do the good things we want to do but continue to engage in addictive or compulsive behaviors which hurt the ones we most care about. This is one of the joys of working at Cottonwood. On a daily basis I get to work with men and women who are doing the very difficult task of self examination to better their lives. It is a privilege to be a part of someone's journey in self knowledge and self discovery.

Thought for the day

" It is our choices , Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities".

Albus Dumbledore