I've started doing my Religious studies and ethics revision about a week later than I would have liked ( I blame procrastination). At any rate the unit im doing at the moment is all about free will and determinism. I have some interesting thoughts on it (perhaps even cynical) and thought I'd share them with my readers (that's right, all three or four of you).
I am not a libertarian, i don't believe we are truly free in what we do. All acts to me have a cause or are determined by the situation in some way (e.g: i go on the computer to do work/ because im bored). However I'm also not a firm believer in hard determinism (that i will act in accordance to how i was raised) someone raised among thieves is certainly more likely to see stealing as acceptable but may still choose not to. As a theory it only predicts the probability of an outcome and not the outcome itself.
In practice I'd like to say im a soft determinist. That yes some things are determined and i have to act in the confines of my situation. Yet i am free to choose my own actions within that situation. i can't write if i don't have a pen, but if i had a pen i could choose to not write. Everyone would LIKE to believe in free-will, that we all have a choice in what we do and how it affects our end destiny, However it should be noted that many people in situations of stress or high emotions resort to the idea that an event is ‘God’s will’ (such as horrific events as nine-eleven) or ‘in fate’s hands’ (such as the student worrying over the results of an exam. Indeed as much as we would say or like to actively try and influence our lives there is still doubt to how much freedom we have. Many people seem happy with the soft determinist view on will and destiny where fate and choice work much like a rat in a maze. The rat wants to reach cheese that has been put in the maze and can ‘choose’ the direction it may go through the maze to reach it.
The journey the rat takes is not pre-determined and was freely chosen, at least to the rat. The world it inhabits is. The rat was placed within the maze to reach the cheese and would not be removed until that time. This can be projected onto us that we are, like the rat, focused on reaching our end (whatever that may be) in an environment beyond our control or true understanding.
Then we come to the cynical part of me and the thing that's weighing heavily on my mind right now. I don't like the idea of predestination, that our fate is already decided by some omnipotent force beyond our understanding. It makes me feel powerless and hopeless. What would be the point in life if everything is already laid out...
Yet i said i dont like it. That's not to say i dont believe in it. I can try and pretend like it doesn't matter and that im the god of my own destiny as i so righteously believe. But i can never be sure if the way im acting and what i do is by my own choice or if i was always destined to do it. The idea that free choice is just an illusion sentient beings came up with is very real and truly terrifying to me.
When it comes down to it fate is predetermined. we are all predetermined to die. nothing lives forever and there is no escape from it. Despite all we may do in our mortal lives, all the impressions we can leave and benefits and defects to society, That one inevitable outcome will never change.
...I think I think too much...
I am not a libertarian, i don't believe we are truly free in what we do. All acts to me have a cause or are determined by the situation in some way (e.g: i go on the computer to do work/ because im bored). However I'm also not a firm believer in hard determinism (that i will act in accordance to how i was raised) someone raised among thieves is certainly more likely to see stealing as acceptable but may still choose not to. As a theory it only predicts the probability of an outcome and not the outcome itself.
In practice I'd like to say im a soft determinist. That yes some things are determined and i have to act in the confines of my situation. Yet i am free to choose my own actions within that situation. i can't write if i don't have a pen, but if i had a pen i could choose to not write. Everyone would LIKE to believe in free-will, that we all have a choice in what we do and how it affects our end destiny, However it should be noted that many people in situations of stress or high emotions resort to the idea that an event is ‘God’s will’ (such as horrific events as nine-eleven) or ‘in fate’s hands’ (such as the student worrying over the results of an exam. Indeed as much as we would say or like to actively try and influence our lives there is still doubt to how much freedom we have. Many people seem happy with the soft determinist view on will and destiny where fate and choice work much like a rat in a maze. The rat wants to reach cheese that has been put in the maze and can ‘choose’ the direction it may go through the maze to reach it.
The journey the rat takes is not pre-determined and was freely chosen, at least to the rat. The world it inhabits is. The rat was placed within the maze to reach the cheese and would not be removed until that time. This can be projected onto us that we are, like the rat, focused on reaching our end (whatever that may be) in an environment beyond our control or true understanding.
Then we come to the cynical part of me and the thing that's weighing heavily on my mind right now. I don't like the idea of predestination, that our fate is already decided by some omnipotent force beyond our understanding. It makes me feel powerless and hopeless. What would be the point in life if everything is already laid out...
Yet i said i dont like it. That's not to say i dont believe in it. I can try and pretend like it doesn't matter and that im the god of my own destiny as i so righteously believe. But i can never be sure if the way im acting and what i do is by my own choice or if i was always destined to do it. The idea that free choice is just an illusion sentient beings came up with is very real and truly terrifying to me.
When it comes down to it fate is predetermined. we are all predetermined to die. nothing lives forever and there is no escape from it. Despite all we may do in our mortal lives, all the impressions we can leave and benefits and defects to society, That one inevitable outcome will never change.
...I think I think too much...
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