We Are Aware and We Choose

You may speculate all you want about how we material beings manage to be conscious and how we manage act willfully, that is, with purpose, but what you cannot rationally do is ask if we are conscious and if act willfully. We each know this directly, so the fact needs no investigation, which would affirm that which was to be investigated. Even to ask a question about those things is to demonstrate their reality. You cannot even talk about the subject without your words presupposing and depending on them. 

I'll give you an example. The other day I heard a YouTube celebrity skeptical atheist say, "I generally prefer to say now that we have will. Whether or not it's free or how free it is, I have no idea. So I don't need to come up with an explanation for something that hasn't been demonstrated to actually be real."

Look closely at this free-will-denier's words: prefer, idea, come up with, demonstrated. What in the world can those words mean in the absence of volition and all that is implies and makes possible? This person tries to distinguish will from free will, but that's a distinction without a difference. Will without choice is an empty concept. ("Absolute" freedom or choice is a straw man. Gravity limits what choices I can make, but that has no philosophical relevance.)

Moreover, this skeptical atheist cited a philosopher's book that influenced his thinking. Now I find this odd. Did the alleged skeptic choose to read the book and think about it, that is, weigh its ideas against alternative ideas, check the logic, and so on? How did he manage that without the power of volitional and purposeful action? And how did the author come to write the book? Was it via an irresistible compulsion over which he had no power? Why should we attach any importance to a book that its own author can't claim to have freely thought through and chosen to write? He can't even claim to have deliberated over its contents before publishing them. How much is such a book worth? Obviously, if the will-deniers are right, I couldn't choose to read the book or think freely about it.

It makes no sense to ask, "How do you know you are conscious and are able to act willfully?" That's like asking, "How do you know there's a dog in front of you?" I simply say, "I see it." And if you say, "But why does seeing it indicate it is there," you have ruled yourself out of reasonable company. But, you might say, maybe you saw only a toy stuffed dog (or committed some other mistake). Yes, that is possible, though with simple sensory investigation, I can find out. But what could I possibly be mistaking for consciousness and willfulness? The perfectly good concepts making, verbalizing, and correcting a mistake imply consciousness and willfulness (as well as correctness). You'll avoid a lot of confusion if you understand that consciousness and will are not things that you have but things that you do.

It's past time to face undeniable reality. We are aware, and we make choices. Next "mystery," please. (See Christian List's "Science Hasn't Refuted Free Will.")