----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Teo" <ateo@whitworth.edu>
> Glenn wrote:
> <<I am aware that .5 is a poor correlation. Do you have a reference for
> what
> you are saing here? And even if the data you have shows at least some
> improvement in correlation for monzygotic twins.>>
>
> Plomin, R., Chipuer, H.M., & Loehlin, J. C. (1990). Behavioral genetics
and
> personality. In L. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and
> research (pp.225-243). NY: Guilford.
>
> Plomin and Loehlin are well-known and respected behavior geneticists. They
> have published widely.
Thanks, I will get that article.
> I agree with you that a significant portion of our behavior patterns is
> genetically influenced. But the conclusion that these behaviors are
> therefore not free is problematic because it implies that the genes are
> something not part of the individual. We tend to have this idea of genes
as
> independent agents controlling our behavior, and we fail to recognize that
> our genes are in fact, part of who we are. To say that my genes make me do
> something (or strongly influenced me) and therefore I was not exercising
my
> free will is something like saying that my hand (or brain, or leg or
finger)
> did it, not I.
>
> To be free is to act in accordance with our nature, and the genes we have
> are part of our nature. Of course, I recognize that you may disagree with
my
> understanding of freedom. If so, then how do you understand free will?
I must have mis-communicated or maybe my thoughts in this area aren't
completely tied together yet. In the case of the dot on Sierpinski's gasket,
his behaviors are not predictable. But the outcome of his motion over a
'lifetime' is most assuredly predictable--Sierpinski's gasket is produced.
What I have been trying to say is that free will is not incompatible with
a pre-programmed result of our lives. The control of that overarching output
is via our genes. We are perfectly free to behave in any fashion we want
(like the dot) but at the end of our lives, God gets from us exactly what He
requires, what he preprogrammed. In this fashion, one can unite Armenianism
[SIC?] and Calvinism. I used to not accept much of Calvinism until I studied
systems like Sierpinski's gasket. Now I am much more Calvinistic in the
sense above in which God can control the output and at the same time we
maintain our personal responsibility for our individual actions.
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
Lots of information on creation/evolution
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