The debate about free will is endless. Do we have free will? Do we not? It is ultimately an unprovable question, but our minds will still futilely attempt to answer it. We can prove both determinism and indeterminism.
My conclusion is simple. We both do and do not have free will. Determinism and indeterminism are both correct. Yay! Will you now radically change your life? Does that change how you’re going to behave and act?
Of course not.
I file it away in the bucket titled Absurd Human Phenomenology.
More important is, What happens when someone acts like they do not have free will compared to if they do have free will? The following are two scenarios to illustrate the case:
-
Bob is driving along the road. It is about 2pm in the middle of summer. Nothing seems to go right for him. He is hit by misfortune time and time again. Just this year alone, first his car was rear ended and totaled in the middle of winter. He had just finished paying it off and the insurance gave him less than half of what he paid for it. Then his ex-wife, who was always nagging him and incessantly complaining, left him, taking half of what little he had and worse, leaving him even more alone. What friends he had remaining hardly returned his calls, and he rarely did more than watch whatever was on tv while sitting on the couch drinking a couple of beers each night.
He had driven this path a countless number of times over the years, although this was likely to be the last. His mind wandered off and he thought to himself, “How could this happen to me?”. “I did everything I was supposed to do. My parents told me to get a safe reliable job, so I became an accountant. Everyone deserves a good car they would say, and the salesman said ‘there’s nothing like buying a new car’, and so I did. They said “happy wife, happy life”, and so I always did what my wife asked.”
He hated when he would get like this and start having these thoughts. He simply didn’t understand why things had played out as they did. Half of his life had gone by, and he barely had anything to show for it. Why is the world so unfair? What did he do to deserve this? When was he going to catch his lucky break? He felt hopeless, powerless, for anything to become different. And now he had been laid off, through no fault of his own, and felt like he had to start all over from square one. Bob pulled into his driveway, remembering that it was Monday night and so surely a game would be on, and headed inside.
-
David woke up, 1 minute before his alarm was to go off. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, he knew it was going to be a beautiful day. He saw a couple of texts from his parents and friends waiting, and smiled at the thought. His parents were always so worried about him, but that was okay. They had wanted him to study engineering, but he really couldn’t stand numbers. He liked talking to people and so became a salesman instead. The paychecks were unreliable, but it paid the bills well enough and he enjoyed getting to work every day. He had a pretty nice ride too. Not the flashiest, but by being in the sales industry he knew people in car sales and got a great deal on something not too big, but not too small either. Best of all he was able to pay for it in cash, so he didn’t have to worry about payments each month.
He got out of bed and greeted his dog Zeus. Zeus was a Great Dane, a tall and handsome dog, but oh boy did he have some energy. To help with that, David would take him for a run each morning. He grabbed his windbreaker as it was still a bit chilly this early in the morning, and headed outside. He knew his neighborhood pretty well, taking a different route for his jog with Zeus each morning. He pondered about where he wanted to go and started off. “Let’s swing by the basketball courts today” he thought.
Life for David was good. As he continued jogging, he began wondering to himself when he would find the girl he was looking for. He had had several girlfriends in the past, and even though he always had fun, the relationships had tended to end as quickly as they started when he would realize they weren’t right for him. Still, he kept the image of the kind of girl he was looking for in his mind. He figured he would have to find her eventually, he need only try. Although he was not yet 35, he had gone through plenty of ups and downs over the years, but he always kept his chin up and looked for ways to work with what he had to get what he wanted next. Suddenly, Zeus barked as a basketball rolled by his nose. They had arrived at the basketball courts, and David took a moment to pause and enjoy the makeshift game.
-
Two tiny slices of life, of two people with two different mentalities. The take away is this, those that act like they do not have free will, that their life is controlled by fortune, that tend to follow what they’re told to do, end up living life feeling powerless and with little capacity for change. Those that act like they do have free will, that their life is in their hands, tend to do what they want to do for themselves, and end up living life feeling powerful and with great capacity for change. Now you will find examples of the opposite of course, but they are the exception and not the rule.
Do we actually have free will or not? Who really knows?
But ultimately, acting like we do have free will is required if one wishes to have power over their life and feel like they have the ability to change not only their life, but the world, for the better.
My conclusion is simple. We both do and do not have free will. Determinism and indeterminism are both correct. Yay! Will you now radically change your life? Does that change how you’re going to behave and act?
Of course not.
I file it away in the bucket titled Absurd Human Phenomenology.
More important is, What happens when someone acts like they do not have free will compared to if they do have free will? The following are two scenarios to illustrate the case:
-
Bob is driving along the road. It is about 2pm in the middle of summer. Nothing seems to go right for him. He is hit by misfortune time and time again. Just this year alone, first his car was rear ended and totaled in the middle of winter. He had just finished paying it off and the insurance gave him less than half of what he paid for it. Then his ex-wife, who was always nagging him and incessantly complaining, left him, taking half of what little he had and worse, leaving him even more alone. What friends he had remaining hardly returned his calls, and he rarely did more than watch whatever was on tv while sitting on the couch drinking a couple of beers each night.
He had driven this path a countless number of times over the years, although this was likely to be the last. His mind wandered off and he thought to himself, “How could this happen to me?”. “I did everything I was supposed to do. My parents told me to get a safe reliable job, so I became an accountant. Everyone deserves a good car they would say, and the salesman said ‘there’s nothing like buying a new car’, and so I did. They said “happy wife, happy life”, and so I always did what my wife asked.”
He hated when he would get like this and start having these thoughts. He simply didn’t understand why things had played out as they did. Half of his life had gone by, and he barely had anything to show for it. Why is the world so unfair? What did he do to deserve this? When was he going to catch his lucky break? He felt hopeless, powerless, for anything to become different. And now he had been laid off, through no fault of his own, and felt like he had to start all over from square one. Bob pulled into his driveway, remembering that it was Monday night and so surely a game would be on, and headed inside.
-
David woke up, 1 minute before his alarm was to go off. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, he knew it was going to be a beautiful day. He saw a couple of texts from his parents and friends waiting, and smiled at the thought. His parents were always so worried about him, but that was okay. They had wanted him to study engineering, but he really couldn’t stand numbers. He liked talking to people and so became a salesman instead. The paychecks were unreliable, but it paid the bills well enough and he enjoyed getting to work every day. He had a pretty nice ride too. Not the flashiest, but by being in the sales industry he knew people in car sales and got a great deal on something not too big, but not too small either. Best of all he was able to pay for it in cash, so he didn’t have to worry about payments each month.
He got out of bed and greeted his dog Zeus. Zeus was a Great Dane, a tall and handsome dog, but oh boy did he have some energy. To help with that, David would take him for a run each morning. He grabbed his windbreaker as it was still a bit chilly this early in the morning, and headed outside. He knew his neighborhood pretty well, taking a different route for his jog with Zeus each morning. He pondered about where he wanted to go and started off. “Let’s swing by the basketball courts today” he thought.
Life for David was good. As he continued jogging, he began wondering to himself when he would find the girl he was looking for. He had had several girlfriends in the past, and even though he always had fun, the relationships had tended to end as quickly as they started when he would realize they weren’t right for him. Still, he kept the image of the kind of girl he was looking for in his mind. He figured he would have to find her eventually, he need only try. Although he was not yet 35, he had gone through plenty of ups and downs over the years, but he always kept his chin up and looked for ways to work with what he had to get what he wanted next. Suddenly, Zeus barked as a basketball rolled by his nose. They had arrived at the basketball courts, and David took a moment to pause and enjoy the makeshift game.
-
Two tiny slices of life, of two people with two different mentalities. The take away is this, those that act like they do not have free will, that their life is controlled by fortune, that tend to follow what they’re told to do, end up living life feeling powerless and with little capacity for change. Those that act like they do have free will, that their life is in their hands, tend to do what they want to do for themselves, and end up living life feeling powerful and with great capacity for change. Now you will find examples of the opposite of course, but they are the exception and not the rule.
Do we actually have free will or not? Who really knows?
But ultimately, acting like we do have free will is required if one wishes to have power over their life and feel like they have the ability to change not only their life, but the world, for the better.
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