Consciousness has to be one of the most vague words that there is
As vague as “agency”, as unproblematic as “agency” in everyday speech.
I am at a loss to understand the striving after a Mysterious Answer to the question “what is agency?”
A rock has none.
Water has very slightly more. It will find it way through the smallest crack in a dam, but cannot gather itself to leap over the top.
A thermostat has slightly more. “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks, rage, blow!”, but the room remains warm.
People have a lot more. Iron filings drawn towards a magnet will be stopped by a sheet of paper, but Romeo will find his way to Juliet whatever obstacles her family places in the way.
Like the dictionary definitions I quoted, that seems clear enough. There is no mystery here. The word “agency” means the capacity to do things, to vary one’s means in order to progress towards goals, and at higher levels, to conceive of and pursue new goals. There is no need to search for a mysterious essence underlying it like a Platonic form or a D&D character stat, or hope to create a plug-in module for “agency” the way Data has an “emotion” chip.
As vague as “agency”, as unproblematic as “agency” in everyday speech.
I am at a loss to understand the striving after a Mysterious Answer to the question “what is agency?”
A rock has none.
Water has very slightly more. It will find it way through the smallest crack in a dam, but cannot gather itself to leap over the top.
A thermostat has slightly more. “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks, rage, blow!”, but the room remains warm.
People have a lot more. Iron filings drawn towards a magnet will be stopped by a sheet of paper, but Romeo will find his way to Juliet whatever obstacles her family places in the way.
Like the dictionary definitions I quoted, that seems clear enough. There is no mystery here. The word “agency” means the capacity to do things, to vary one’s means in order to progress towards goals, and at higher levels, to conceive of and pursue new goals. There is no need to search for a mysterious essence underlying it like a Platonic form or a D&D character stat, or hope to create a plug-in module for “agency” the way Data has an “emotion” chip.