Monday, September 8, 2008

Do i believe? Sort of.

I believe in Determinism. To make it clear why, i will first state why i don't believe in the other ones. I think the notion of fate and destiny has been made up solely to comfort people who feel unsure about the future. This belief is shaped by me being an atheist. I do not think there are higher forces at work up there so there is no logical way that someone would be determining my destiny for me and there is absolutely no reason or evidence to believe that i have a pre-defined destiny to do anything at all.
Secondly, complete free will is also farce for the most part. While will power may be a force to be reckoned with, all choices made by any individual are ultimately influenced by their DNA and environment. Everyone's going to play the cards they were dealt, so for example if you were a poor black man in the 1930's, your choices would obviously be limited by discrimination, and thus your DNA. Environmental influences affect us every day, down to something as trivial as peer pressure or obstacles that will encourage us to take the easy road. While these influences can be overcome by will power, at the end of the day everyone, including super amazing crazy robot people, will from time to time succumb to these pressures.
So basically, no one is making my decisions for me, but my decisions are always affected by the world around me. I think to some extent, your decisions absolutely should be influenced by the environment. While i believe in shooting for the stars, nothing is limitless and boundless in the real world, and we all need a reality check every once in awhile. I think for most people the struggle in life is finding the balance between complete free will and these influences. This is why i believe in Determinism.

No comments: