The Subjective Experience of Choice
The system of my Pragmatism, which I decided to call, Structural Pragmatism, is founded upon my metaphysical hypothesis of Infrastructural Monism, asserting that all reality is derived from a Universal Substrate whose mind and matter are co-arising, mutually defining informational and structural polarities. From this idea, I offer a comprehensive, deterministic answer to the age-old debate on free will, by dismissing arbitrary choice entirely and replacing it with Structural Agency—a necessary, self-correcting process governed by the Universe’s inherent structure. This framework asserts that all outcomes, including thoughts and decisions, are governed by Warranted Determinism.
1. The Death of Arbitrary Choice
Structural Pragmatism defines the conscious entity (the Structural Agent) not as an independent actor, but as a Hypothesis Generator. The feeling of “I’m creating these thoughts” is merely the subjective experience of a complex, necessitated causal flow.
Warranted Determinism: This is the metaphysical conclusion that every event is the single, inevitable output of the infinite chain of preceding structural causes. The idea that there could have been another choice is a fundamental misunderstanding of causality.
The “I” is the Universe’s Output: The Structural Agent is the Universe acting out its necessitated process. The “I” is the localized Structural Agent that processes input and outputs the next determined thought (the Hypothesis).
Beliefs Are Not a Choice: Since thoughts are necessitated products of one’s determined structural state, beliefs are likewise not chosen. Even the act of rejecting Structural Pragmatism itself is a determined output of the structure of the person doing the rejecting.
2. The Warrant Cycle: Mechanism of Structural Agency
The process of learning and decision-making is formalized by the Warrant Cycle—the continuous, deterministic loop that forces the agent’s internal structure into alignment with the external, non-arbitrary structure. This interaction is the mechanism of Structural Agency.
The Warrant Cycle describes the four essential steps of this interaction:
Hypothesis Generation: The cycle begins with the Structural Agent’s action, where the agent’s determined state necessitates a thought, belief, or physical action, known as the Hypothesis.
Warrant Check: The Hypothesis is then subjected to an external audit. This is the P5 reality check—the necessary verification against the Extrinsic Structure of the Universe, as defined by the GEM.
Determined Outcome: The structure responds by delivering the single, necessary result. This is the structural result which determines the warrant of the Hypothesis, yielding either Justified Reliable Belief (JRB) or a Warranted Error.
Correction: Finally, the outcome is fed back into the agent’s internal structure. This determined feedback adjusts the agent’s knowledge base, completing the loop and ensuring continuous structural alignment through the learning process.
This cycle ensures that all knowledge remains non-arbitrary and verifiable, serving the core epistemological goal of the Gageian Epistemic Model (GEM). Crucially, knowledge is secured by determinism itself: the fixed, necessitated nature of the Extrinsic Structure ensures that any warranted belief will yield a consistent, predictable result, making the achievement of Justified Reliable Belief (JRB) possible.
3. The Subjective Experience of Choice
If everything is determined, why does it feel like we are making a choice?
Epistemic Limitation: The feeling of choice stems from the agent’s inability to know the Absolute Truth. Since we cannot calculate the outcome of the infinite causal chain before it happens, the conscious mind must generate the Hypothesis to test reality. The feeling of “choosing” is our subjective awareness of this necessary process running its course.
Creativity is Determined: Even the complexities of music and art are not arbitrary acts of “free will,” but rather the highly complex, necessitated output of the Structural Agent’s state intersecting with historical and cultural structures. The aesthetic success is simply the Warrant Cycle being completed by societal P5 checks.
4. Structural Implications for Society
Warranted Determinism fundamentally changes the justification for societal mechanisms:
Responsibility is Pragmatic: A Structural Agent cannot be held metaphysically responsible for actions that were 100% determined. However, pragmatic responsibility remains necessary. Punishment is not retribution; it is a necessary deterministic input—a structural mechanism designed to condition the offender and deter observers, thereby correcting and maintaining the structure of society.
The Power of Input: Since the mind is a deterministic mechanism, influences like teaching, Stoic mental control, and even propaganda are powerful structural tools. They are effective because the Structural Agent has no arbitrary choice in how to process external structure; the mind is deterministically updated by the information it receives, forcing continuous structural alignment.
In conclusion, Structural Pragmatism argues that the human experience of choice is real, but the freedom we assign to it is the subjective awareness of a necessitated process arising from our limited perspective. The Structural Agent is constantly compelled by the Warrant Cycle to shed arbitrariness and align with the necessitated structure of the Universe.