076: The Great Debate of Free-Will & Determinism
Are we fundamentally FREE to forge our own path, or is our JOURNEY predetermined, fated to unfold in an already scripted series of events? Free will is simply defined as the power to select or decide amongst an array of options or potential actions. The concept of free will provides us humans with a purpose, accountability, and personal agency. Individuals who believe in FREE WILL are more likely to have a positive outlook on life, be more productive and achieve more, academically speaking. Individuals who hold the belief, with conviction, that they can act at their own liberty to freely pursue their ambitions, are more motivated to accomplish and improve their situation. On the other hand, casting doubt on FREE WILL, adopting a deterministic view, is basically the exact opposite ideology. Determinism encourages our most impulsive instincts; it weakens our desire to achieve. If we believe we have no self-control, we succumb to internal urges. If we’re not actually in control of our destiny, and our behavior for example, our moral liberty disappears. Shortcomings are not your responsibility, external factors are to blame: your DNA, God, other people, etc. Once they have occurred, are very difficult or impossible to change, as if created by software in a machine. In the context of one of my favorite movies, THE MATRIX, reality is either literally a software simulation, or that the universe is like a computer and natural law like software. Quote: “Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn't see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.” - Charles Michael Palahniuk Maybe FREE WILL is circumstantial?! Maybe we have FREE WILL in some aspects of life, and not others? We can choose Oreos over Chips Ahoy at the supermarket but have no control over whether we will be successful and happy in life?! People are not moving in the direction of an inescapable destiny. On the other hand, philosophers argue that NO ONE has caused him or herself. No one can choose their DNA or the economic status you’re born into. Therefore, no one bears the ultimate responsibility for their actions . . . Is there a common ground that can combine the inspirational power of self-control in free will, and the empathetic understanding innate to determinism?! https://mruddo.com https://www.greenchef.com/mruddo80 https://headspace.com/mruddo