| Geoff,
Whenever I use a word I use its common use, otherwise IŽll highlight a specific technical use. There are far too many technical uses of words. It has become an industry of words & the less one needs specific uses, the clearer one can communicate the point.
As to which type of intention, I do not think it matters. As to actions that are made without prior conscious reflection, I do not think it matters. As long as there are some impredictable actions after conscious reflection - my argument stands.
IŽm not sure what youŽre trying to say before the 2nd quote but surely for free will to be it is critical that free will is a cause of action. Whether or not one freely thinks about actions, without consequences, is neither here nor there since thereŽs no trace by definition of that free will in a reality external to that free will.
On your point after the 2nd quote, I believe you misread Dawkins. As a spider evolves its evolution will be impacted by a kind of web it weaves & vice versa. We may well be biologically determined to have an ability for language but once that ability has been realized our evolution will be impacted by language. The latter evolution is no longer determined by a biological determination as the language-ability was - because language is now a part of the environment that shapes the biological evolution.
Now, I know this is a proxy point, because there is only a little genetic evolution that could have taken place because of language. But still, it goes to show how something can be biologically determined at a same time as being impredictable from a pure biological point of view. That, I believe, was Dawkins major point in both mimetic evolution & extended phenotype.
Nice talking to you.
GuidoNius |