Re:Evidence that addictive behaviors have links with ancient...
by lisper on Tuesday September 25, 2018 @12:47PM
(#18068002)
I actually agree with most of what you say here. This is more about semantics than science. But I would put this differently:
> that's still true even if there's a gap between your conscious model of your motivations, and the soup of real motivations that drives you.
I would say it's true because there is a gap, not "even if".
Free will isn't an illusion so much as a misleading oversimplification of a complex concept.
The traditional philosophical notion of free will assumes a kind of perfectly rational Platonic ideal of a thinking human who carefully weighs all future options before acting.
This is clearly nonsense, and should have been called out as nonsense much earlier in history.
In reality free will is a mash-up of all kinds of influences - rationality, misguided belief, instinct, genetics influencing brain structure and hormonal balance, culture, previous experience - in varying proportions.
They add up to a kind of meta-freedom - not necessarily rational, but not particularly easy to predict or control with any precision.
Your sense of self isn't aware of these influences, but that won't stop you acting with some form of independent agency - and that's still true even if there's a gap between your conscious model of your motivations, and the soup of real motivations that drives you.