(urth) What symbols mean for Wolfe

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes danldo at gmail.com
Mon Nov 26 08:54:01 PST 2012


There's a passage somewhere where Silk wonders whether "free will" is just
the privilege of consenting to what is going to happen anyway.


On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:01 AM, Daniel Petersen <
danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Clearest in his treatment of the chems.  That is, you may not necessarily
> own even your thoughts, but there are still occasions where you get the
> opportunity to make meaningful decisions, and making the correct one can
> lead to further expansion of your freedom.  And in _Soldier of Sidon_, if
> you have arete (are virtuous), you choose to be the best slave that you can
> be.
>
> David Duffy.
>
> In that case, some of the things chems do in Long and Short Suns become
> even more poignant (e.g. Marble and her fella creating Olivine together).
>
> -DOJP
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 11:55 AM, David Duffy <David.Duffy at qimr.edu.au>wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 26 Nov 2012, Daniel Petersen wrote:
>>
>> Some passages struck me as flirting with some sort of determinism (even if
>>> compatibilist), but I can't recall where offhand.  Does anyone see any
>>> evidence of *libertarian* freewill in BotNS?  I think I agree with Bill's
>>> analysis of Severian's choices being central to shaping the turnings of
>>> his
>>> story, which does look more like libertarian freewill than anything else
>>> to
>>> me.  If the more determinist notions do exist in the text as I recall,
>>> then
>>> I assume what we have is a wrestling between the two philosophies in the
>>> series rather than a clear espousal or embodiment of one over the other.
>>>
>>
>> Clearest in his treatment of the chems.  That is, you may not necessarily
>> own even your thoughts, but there are still occasions where you get the
>> opportunity to make meaningful decisions, and making the correct one can
>> lead to further expansion of your freedom.  And in _Soldier of Sidon_, if
>> you have arete (are virtuous), you choose to be the best slave that you can
>> be.
>>
>> David Duffy.
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>
>
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
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