Is Thinking a Voluntary or Involuntary Action?

I don't think one can will a thought, for it appears to arise before the willing happens. Besides what or who would will it?

Can thought will thought?

[edited]

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Doesn't make it untrue. To me it's a no-brainer that thought can provoke thought.

Just watch....

Answered before the edit.

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Well if thought cannot be willed, then it would appear that thoughts are not a choice.

I didn't say, 'provoke', I said, 'will'. It's not a question whether thought can provoke thought. The question is whether a thought can will a specific thought. I don't think thought is a choice, for who's choice would it be? I think they just happen.

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truth
Repression is willed unconsciously; but suppression is done consciously. At least that's how I define the two terms.
I don't know that we can choose not to think. For ten years I tried in vain to stop my thinking, believng incorrectly that that was the goal of meditation: to stop the mind. I've concluded that thinking is what the brain does just as secreting digestive juices is what the stomach does.

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twyvel,

What do you mean by "will"? What does "willing" a thought constitute?

When you explain it, I will probably say it can be voluntary.

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I can will myself to think something. I shall will myself to think of an aardvark and its life.

There - done. My mind is populated with aardvarks.

It is also populated with many other, unwilled, semi-willed and attempting not to will thoughts. Such is thought.

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I will myself to think of something every time i have to write an essay, or do a report, or solve a problem.

A lot of unwilled thought goes on about these things too, semi-consciously - but it is, I suppose, the result of the willing.

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You will to think, but the thought devoid of sudden intuitions, or inspirations, is dull.
Homer calls the Muse.

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Sure.

They are not mutually exclusive.

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Craven, By ?'will', I mean;

Main Entry: 3will
Pronunciation: 'wil
Function: verb
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 a : to order or direct by a will b : to dispose of by or as if by a will : BEQUEATH
2 a : to determine by an act of choice b : DECREE, ORDAIN <Providence wills it> c : INTEND, PURPOSE d : to cause or change by an act of will; also : to try to do so
intransitive senses
1 : to exercise the will
2 : CHOOSE

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dlowan wrote:

Quote:

I can will myself to think something. I shall will myself to think of an aardvark and its life.

In the act of stating it (or thinking it) the "thinking of an aardvard" has already been done, so the ?'willing' is not only redundant it never took place. You have to think of that which you are attempting to will yourself to think in order to will it, as such the ?'willing' is vacuous.

Thinking of an arrdvard (or anything) just happens.

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dlowan wrote:

Quote:

I can will myself to think something. I shall will myself to think of an aardvark and its life.

In the act of stating it (or thinking it) the "thinking of an aardvard" has already been done, so the ?'willing' is not only redundant it never took place. You have to think of that which you are attempting to will yourself to think in order to will it, and once you are thinking of it, it is already taking place. The 'willing' is never arrived at.

Thinking of an arrdvard (or anything) just happens.

[edited]

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Twyvel is really thinking on my level.
Dlowan, you read what others had written which created a response in your brain. And then you claimed that you created that response through pure will? I refuse to believe that any ideas or thoughts are completely unfounded.
JLNobody, you are completely correct about how thinking is just a process in the brain. I believe that when we aren't thinking constructively, our brains are compiling and reviewing everything that has happened in the past. That is where daydreams come from.

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But the willing was done nonetheless.

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What does this mean?

" I refuse to believe that any ideas or thoughts are completely unfounded."

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I mean, I know what the words mean - but I don't know why you said it.

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And what about when I sit down, despite great reluctance, and decide to think of a present for Auntie Mary?

or, when treating post traumatic stress disorder, I get a client to use their will to not avoid thinking about a traumatic scene, and to focus on it in great detail?

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twyvel wrote:

Craven, By ?'will', I mean;

Main Entry: 3will
Pronunciation: 'wil
Function: verb
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 a : to order or direct by a will b : to dispose of by or as if by a will : BEQUEATH
2 a : to determine by an act of choice b : DECREE, ORDAIN <Providence wills it> c : INTEND, PURPOSE d : to cause or change by an act of will; also : to try to do so
intransitive senses
1 : to exercise the will
2 : CHOOSE

I know the dictionary definition twyvel. I was, however, hoping you could do something to make your comment make sense.

I will parody your argument below:

Machines can't create anything. Even if you demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt a machine creating something the machine had to be created in the first place.

No duh!

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dlowan, I probably used the wrong word but what I meant was that I completely believe in the idea that the mind only responds to stimuli and doesn't just create thoughts out of thin air.

When you sit down, you relax not only your body but your brain too. This gives you time to think about things such as your family, then you think about Mary, and then her birthday, then you decide what present to get her. Do you see what I am saying? The thought about what to get her was triggered by the stimulus of the thought of her birthday which was itself a response to another stimulus...the chain goes all the way back to a biological need for social interaction and that need is unconscious.

And the client didn't decide to think about a traumatic event, you decided for them.

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Craven

Quote:

I know the dictionary definition twyvel. I was, however, hoping you could do something to make your comment make sense.

Sorry, I guess I know you know, Smile

Quote:

I will parody your argument below:

Machines can't create anything. Even if you demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt a machine creating something the machine had to be created in the first place.

No duh!

That's not a parody of what I said.

I am not saying, "Humans were created, therefore humans cannot create anything.

I'm saying, if all knowledge is mental, including data from sense perceptions, and a thought cannot be said to will another thought, that is, a thought does not have volition or intention (nor does it have a causal relation in the material world (in the usual sense)), then thoughts are not a choice.

Put another way, if ?'you' are nothing but an observed concept, or idea, and this ?'idea' that is >you< cannot will or elect another idea, thought, or mental image, then there is no ?'willing' of any thoughts taking place.

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Is Thinking a Voluntary or Involuntary Action?

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