@prothero,
ACB wrote:They do make choices, in the sense that they consider various courses of action and then act in accordance with their wishes. But they do not choose their wishes.
Making a choice
is considering various courses of action and then acting in accordance with desire.
I didn't choose my wishes? You mean to say that because I didn't choose the set of available options prior to me making a choice, the choice I'm now about to make isn't a
real choice? Suppose I was given three cars to choose from... Wait! If I'm
given three cars to choose from, instead of me
choosing the number of cars I can choose from, I'm not making a
real choice?
Quote:Some factor (e.g. God himself, or the laws of nature) determines (forces) people's wishes, and hence, indirectly, their actions
Of course there's going to be some factor which is the cause of choice, just as there's a cause of me jumping - but we wouldn't say I'm not jumping just because there is a cause. I don't even understand how your conception of choice would even theoretically exist; there must always be a cause for all that happens.
I ask, again, what would a
real, or
pure, choice look like to you? It would be a choice with no cause? Because all causes, to you, force?