Peikoff - Sense Perception And Volition - The Primary Choice As The Choice To Focus Or Not

Question 1

Man, according to objectivism, is NOT moved by factors outside of his control.

He is …?

Answer 1

A VOLITIONAL BEING, WHO FUNCTIONS FREELY.

Question 2

A course of thought or action is “free”, if …?

Answer 2

It is selected from 2 or more courses possible under the circumstances.

In such a case, the difference is made by the INDIVIDUAL’S DECISION, which did NOT HAVE TO BE WHAT IT IS, ie

==> WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN OTHERWISE.

Question 3

To identify the exact locus of human freedom is a difficult task since it requires that one describe and distinguish complex states of consciousness.

Once this has been done, however, …?

Answer 3

The fact THAT man is free follows readily.

Question 4

Overview of the Objectivist position.

Consciousness is an …?

Answer 4

ACTIVE PROCESS, not a motionless medium, such as a mirror, which passively reflects reality.

==> To achieve and maintain awareness, a man’s consciousness must perform a complex series of actions.

==> The OBJECT of awareness, REALITY, simply exists. It impinges on a man’s senses, but it does NOT do a man’s cognitive work for him NOR force itself on his mind.

==> THE MAN WHO WAITS FOR REALITY TO WRITE THE TRUTH INSIDE HIS SOUL WAITS IN VAIN.

Question 5

The actions of consciousness required on the sensory-perceptual level are automatic.

On the CONCEPTUAL level, however, …?

Answer 5

They are NOT automatic.

THIS is the key to the locus of volition.

==> Man’s basic freedom of choice = to exercise his distinctively human cognitive machinery or not.

“TO THINK OR NOT TO THINK.”

Question 6

As long as a man is awake (and his brain is intact), he is conscious of reality in the sensory-perceptual form.

THIS much is given to him by nature. But consciousness in the form required by his survival is …?

Answer 6

NOT given to man.

==> It must be achieved by a process of CHOICE.

==> Man’s choice is to be conscious (in the human sense) or not.

Question 7

Volition subsumes different kinds of choices.

The PRIMARY CHOICE, the one that makes conceptual activity possible …?

Answer 7

Is the choice to FOCUS ONE’S CONSCIOUSNESS.

Question 8

“Focus” (in the conceptual realm) names …?

Answer 8

A quality of purposeful alertness in a man’s mental state.

“Focus” is the state of a GOAL-DIRECTED MIND committed to attaining FULL AWARENESS OF REALITY.

Question 9

“Full awareness” does NOT mean …?

Answer 9

Omniscience.

It means the awareness attainable by a man who seeks to understand some object by using to the full the evidence, the past knowledge, and the cognitive skills available to him at the time.

Question 10

To “focus” one’s mind means to …?

Answer 10

Raise one’s degree of awareness.

It consists of shaking off mental lethargy and deciding to use one’s intelligence.

==> The state of being “in focus”-in FULL focus-means the decision to use one’s intelligence FULLY.

Question 11

In situations where one’s knowledge is already adequate, full awareness does not require any new conceptualization.

It is attainable by a …?

Answer 11

Simple directing of attention.

In such cases, one is in focus if he does not relinquish control of his consciousness.

==> His mind remains self-aware and self-directed, and he is alert to the possibility that a process of cognition may be required at any time.

Question 12

Focus is NOT …?

Answer 12

The same as thinking.

It need NOT involve problem-solving or the drawing of new conclusions.

Focus is the READINESS to think and as such the PRECONDITION OF THINKING.

(Use the visual analogy)

Question 13

To change the visual analogy, the choice to focus, AR used to observe, is like …?

Answer 13

Throwing a switch. It may be compared to starting a car’s motor by turning on the ignition.

This throwing of the switch consists of the exertion of one’s mental capacity.

==> This exertion is WORK and is experienced as such-not pain, but WORK, IN THE SENSE OF BASIC MENTAL EFFORT.

==> It is the EFFORT required to reach and/or maintain full awareness.

Question 14

“Effort” means …?

Answer 14

The expenditure of energy to achieve a purpose.

Question 15

The exertion of such effort never becomes …?

Answer 15

Automatic.

==> The choice involved must be made anew in every situation and in regard to every subject a person deals with.

==> The decision to focus on one occasion does NOT determine other occasions.

==> It retains this capacity no matter how long a person has practiced the policy of seeking full awareness.

FOCUS NEVER TURNS INTO A MENTAL “REFLEX”. IT MUST BE WILLED CONTINUOUSLY.

==> This is INHERENT in calling it a MATTER OF CHOICE.

==> The essence of a VOLITIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS is the fact that its operation ALWAYS DEMANDS the same fundamental effort of initiation and then of maintenance across time.

Question 16

The choice to focus is man’s primary choice. Primary here means:

Answer 16

PRESUPPOSED BY ALL OTHER CHOICES AND ITSELF IRREDUCIBLE.

Question 17

Until a man is in focus, his mental machinery is unable to function in the human sense- …?

Answer 17

To think, to judge, to evaluate.

The choice to “throw the switch” is thus the ROOT CHOICE, on which all others depend.

Question 18

Nor can a primary choice be …?

Answer 18

EXPLAINED BY ANYTHING MORE FUNDAMENTAL.

==> By its nature, it is a FIRST CAUSE within a consciousness, NOT AN EFFECT produced by antecedent factors.

==> It is NOT a product of parents or teachers, anatomy or conditioning, heredity or environment.

Question 19

Nor can one explain the choice to focus by reference to a person’s own mental contents, such as his ideas:

Answer 19

The choice to activate the conceptual level of awareness MUST PRECEDE ANY IDEAS.

==> Until a person is conscious in a human sense, his mind cannot reach new conclusions or even apply previous ones to a current situation.

==> There can be NO INTELLECTUAL FACTOR which makes a man decide to become aware or which partly explains such a decision.

TO GRASP SUCH A FACTOR, HE MUST ALREADY BE AWARE.

Question 20

For the same reason, there can be NO MOTIVE or VALUE-JUDGMENT which precedes consciousness:

Answer 20

The decision to perceive reality MUST PRECEDE VALUE-JUDGMENTS.

==> Otherwise, values have no source in one’s cognition of reality and thus become DELUSIONS.

Values do NOT lead to consciousness. Consciousness is what leads to values.

Question 21

In short, it is invalid to ask: WHY did a man choose to focus?

Answer 21

There is no such “why”.

There is only the fact that a man CHOSE:

He chose the EFFORT OF CONSCIOUSNESS, or he chose non-effort and unconsciousness.

==> In THIS regard, every man at every waking moment is A PRIME MOVER.

Question 22

This is not to deny that a person’s ideas can have effects, positive or negative, on his mental state:

Answer 22

If an individual accepts a philosophy of reason, and if he characteristically chooses to be in focus …

==> He will gradually gain knowledge, confidence, and a sense of INTELLECTUAL CONTROL.

This will make easier for him to be in focus. After he practices the policy for a time, focusing will come to seem natural, his thought processes will gain in speed and efficiency, he will enjoy using his mind, and he will experience little temptation to drop the mental reins.

Question 23

On the other hand, if an individual accepts an anti-reason philosophy, and if he characteristically remains out of focus, he will …?

Answer 23

Increasingly feel BLIND, UNCERTAIN, and ANXIOUS.

This will make the choice to focus harder. After a while he will experience focus as an UNNATURAL STRAIN, his thought processes will become relatively tortured and unproductive, and he will be tempted more than ever to escape into a state of passive drift.

Question 24

BOTH these patterns, however (and all the mixtures in between) are …?

Answer 24

SELF-MADE.

Human volition has produced each condition, and the opposite choices remain possible.

==> The first man still has to throw the switch the next time, which takes an expenditure of effort.

==> The second still has the capacity to focus as long as he is sane.

He has the capacity to gradually (and painfully) work his way out of his inner chaos and establish a better relationship to reality.

Question 25

So far we have discussed 2 basic choices: Switching the mental machinery on or leaving it passive and stagnant. There is a third possibility:

Answer 25

The aberration of EVASION.

Question 26

Evasion in AR words:

Answer 26

The act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the REFUSAL TO THINK. Not blindness, but the refusal to see. Not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocussing your mind and inducing an INNER FOG TO ESCAPE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF JUDGMENT. On the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it. That A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict "It IS".

Question 27

The man who drifts in an out-of-focus state ...?

Answer 27

Avoids mental purpose and effort. ==> HE DOES NOT WORK TO SEE, to connect, to understand, a policy that pertains to all of his mental contents all the time.

Question 28

Evasion, by contrast, is ...?

Answer 28

An ACTIVE PROCESS AIMED AT A SPECIFIC CONTENT. The evader DOES expend effort. ==> He PURPOSEFULLY directs his attention away from a given fact. He WORKS NOT TO SEE IT ==> If he cannot banish it fully, he works not to let it become completely real to him.

Question 29

The drifter does not integrate his mental contents. The evader ...?

Answer 29

DISINTEGRATES them, by struggling to disconnect a given item from everything that would give it CLARITY or SIGNIFICANCE in his own mind.

Question 30

Despite their differences, these 2 states of consciousness are closely related:

Answer 30

If a drifter in a given situation apprehends (dimly or clearly) the need to initiate a thought process, yet refuses to do so ... The refusal involves an EVASION (he is evading the fact that thought is necessary). To be out of focus, therefore, does not as such imply that one has evaded. BUT to be out of focus in situations where one must make decisions or take action DOES imply it. ==> It implies an evasion of one's need of consciousness in decision and action.

Question 31

Habitual evasion is thus what sustains a ...?

Answer 31

Chronically out-of-focus state. And vice versa: The latter policy engenders a substantial anxiety, which makes demands of life in reality seem threatening. ==> So a series of evasion comes to seem TEMPTING AS AN ESCAPE.

Question 32

To an evader, a ...?

Answer 32

FEELING of some kind is MORE IMPORTANT THAN TRUTH. The evader places an "I wish" above an "It is".

Question 33

Unlike the basic choice to be in or out of focus, the choice to evade a specific content is ...?

Answer 33

MOTIVATED. The motive being the particular FEELING that the evader elevates ABOVE REALITY. ==> Such a feeling is merely a precondition, not a cause or explanation. The choice to capitulate to it is irreducible. No matter what his emotions, a sane man retains the power to face facts. If an emotion is overwhelming, he retains the power to recognize this and to defer cognition until he can establish a calmer mood.

Question 34

Just as man has the capacity to place FEELING ABOVE FACTS, so he has the capacity ...?

Answer 34

NOT to do so. To remain reality-oriented by an act of will, despite temptation to the contrary. This, too, is an aspect of VOLITION subsumed under the primary choice: to focus or not. The words "or not" cover BOTH the passive drift and active evasion.

Question 35

The process of evasion, as we will see, is profoundly destructive:

Answer 35

Epistemologically, it invalidates a mental process. Morally, it is the essence of evil. EVASION IS THE VICE THAT UNDERLIES ALL OTHER VICES. ==> In the present era, it is leading to the collapse of the world.