Ron Paul is my new hero. (Minus the pro-lifeness.)
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
11 September 2008
07 September 2008
What's with the Name
you ask? (And I am talking about Leaving Ignorance, not Adrien.) Really this should probably have been my first post. It needs to be established right at the beginning, non? I rather jumped the gun with Free Will. Ah well, nothing to be done now.
I have titled this blog Leaving Ignorance because that is what I am doing. I am learning. About myself, others, the world, abstract concepts that have no practical use but are very interesting nonetheless. (How did "nonetheless" get to be accepted as a word? That is ridiculous.)
Now, some of you may be saying "Isn't it bad to think of 'leaving'? Shouldn't you be focusing on moving forward, moving towards something?" Well, no. I do not pretend to know what the future holds. I do not even know what I'd like it to hold. But I do know what is in the past. And this blog is about leaving ignorance in the past.
It is impossible to ever truly be rid of ignorance. There is always something to be learned. So I am not completely leaving ignorance, just shedding some layers. However "Leaving Some Ignorance" doesn't sound nearly as nice.
"That's all fine and dandy, but why name your blog that?" Because I am using my blog to learn. Writing out thoughts and debates (with myself, yes) is a very efficient way to come to a conclusion on something. Much more organized than just thinking about it. It's also nice to have things written down so in the future when I'm thinking "How could I ever have doubted free will?!" I can just go back to my post there. "Oh. That's why."
The end.
I have titled this blog Leaving Ignorance because that is what I am doing. I am learning. About myself, others, the world, abstract concepts that have no practical use but are very interesting nonetheless. (How did "nonetheless" get to be accepted as a word? That is ridiculous.)
Now, some of you may be saying "Isn't it bad to think of 'leaving'? Shouldn't you be focusing on moving forward, moving towards something?" Well, no. I do not pretend to know what the future holds. I do not even know what I'd like it to hold. But I do know what is in the past. And this blog is about leaving ignorance in the past.
It is impossible to ever truly be rid of ignorance. There is always something to be learned. So I am not completely leaving ignorance, just shedding some layers. However "Leaving Some Ignorance" doesn't sound nearly as nice.
"That's all fine and dandy, but why name your blog that?" Because I am using my blog to learn. Writing out thoughts and debates (with myself, yes) is a very efficient way to come to a conclusion on something. Much more organized than just thinking about it. It's also nice to have things written down so in the future when I'm thinking "How could I ever have doubted free will?!" I can just go back to my post there. "Oh. That's why."
The end.
05 September 2008
Free Will
Do we have free will? I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. (It is much more entertaining than that paper for English class.) At first it seemed obvious. (A: yes.) But then as I really started to think about it, I realized I didn't even know what free will was.
Before we get into all that messy stuff, let's look at something much more clear cut. God. Is there a god? I do not believe so. It was a website that turned me atheist, but I was leaning that way my whole life. Why? Because my family was not religious. We were "Roman Catholic," but we were certainly not religious. (Maybe not even spiritual.) The point is I was not force-fed religion from the moment of my birth, as most Americans are. (Or so I've heard.) As I entered my teens I did some research into religion + atheism and eventually found the site that sealed the deal. No god. I am not going to reiterate the atheism argument for you. Why? Because (1) I am too lazy to write it all out and (2) I don't think I'd change anyones' minds anyways. If you are interested, just go to the site.
Note: all above links go to the same website. (But not the one in the Note.)
So, now that we have gotten that out of the way, on to free will. Let us start with a definition from everyone's favourite online dictionary.
Before we get into all that messy stuff, let's look at something much more clear cut. God. Is there a god? I do not believe so. It was a website that turned me atheist, but I was leaning that way my whole life. Why? Because my family was not religious. We were "Roman Catholic," but we were certainly not religious. (Maybe not even spiritual.) The point is I was not force-fed religion from the moment of my birth, as most Americans are. (Or so I've heard.) As I entered my teens I did some research into religion + atheism and eventually found the site that sealed the deal. No god. I am not going to reiterate the atheism argument for you. Why? Because (1) I am too lazy to write it all out and (2) I don't think I'd change anyones' minds anyways. If you are interested, just go to the site.
Note: all above links go to the same website. (But not the one in the Note.)
So, now that we have gotten that out of the way, on to free will. Let us start with a definition from everyone's favourite online dictionary.
free will
–noun
1.free and independent choice; voluntary decision: You took on the responsibility of your own free will.
2. Philosophy. the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/free%20will
Obviously, we will be using the second definition. Since we have established that there is no god, we can fairly say that there are no divine forces dictating our lives. But what about physical forces? What are they and how could they possibly make decisions for us?
Well, I don't know what exactly dictionary.com is trying to get at, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is talking about things like environment, past experiences, etc. Are such things mere influences, or are they really the deciding factors that run our lives? I am inclined to say the latter.
Are you shocked?
You shouldn't be. We can never be free of bias and influences and all that. I think just about everybody has accepted that. (Save this thought for future reference.)
Question: Do we choose our personalities? No. Whether they came from nature or nurture or some combination of everything, we do NOT choose our personality. We can try to change it, but it is a lost cause from the start. I am introverted. I do not like interaction with other peoples, especially on the phone and face to face. Now, if I could choose my personality, don't you think I would choose to be a people person? Life would certainly be easier as an extrovert. Society has convinced us that people who aren't interested in small talk are snooty snotty snobs. Given the choice, very few people would actually choose to be introverted due to its negative portrayal.
From this anecdotal evidence (erm), we can all agree that people do not choose their personalities.
Now to apply the above to the free will debate. Proposal: Our personalities determine what kind of choices we will make. Drawing Conclusions: Since we don't choose our personalities, then we are not really making choices.
180: "It's just an influence. We are still making the final choice."
Point taken, 180, but at what point does that "influence" become so heavy it takes away our free will? We cannot escape our personalities. It's who we ARE. On top of that, we all have past experience and other environmental factors to take into account. (Some would say that those things are a part of our personalities. Same thing.)
Conclusion (Kind of): So we Make Choices. But our Choices are so heavily influenced that they are quite predictable. Now I'm not saying that I can guess what colour socks you will wear tomorrow. BUT say we had some sort of device. If we put all of your history, your life story, every quirk of your "individual" personality, into that device it could, theoretically, determine the decision you would make in any given situation.
The Real Conclusion: I do not know if that is free will or not. But I really truly believe it. I hope that anyone reading this has at least been given something to think about, even if their opinion is radically different.
Well, I don't know what exactly dictionary.com is trying to get at, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is talking about things like environment, past experiences, etc. Are such things mere influences, or are they really the deciding factors that run our lives? I am inclined to say the latter.
Are you shocked?
You shouldn't be. We can never be free of bias and influences and all that. I think just about everybody has accepted that. (Save this thought for future reference.)
Question: Do we choose our personalities? No. Whether they came from nature or nurture or some combination of everything, we do NOT choose our personality. We can try to change it, but it is a lost cause from the start. I am introverted. I do not like interaction with other peoples, especially on the phone and face to face. Now, if I could choose my personality, don't you think I would choose to be a people person? Life would certainly be easier as an extrovert. Society has convinced us that people who aren't interested in small talk are snooty snotty snobs. Given the choice, very few people would actually choose to be introverted due to its negative portrayal.
From this anecdotal evidence (erm), we can all agree that people do not choose their personalities.
Now to apply the above to the free will debate. Proposal: Our personalities determine what kind of choices we will make. Drawing Conclusions: Since we don't choose our personalities, then we are not really making choices.
180: "It's just an influence. We are still making the final choice."
Point taken, 180, but at what point does that "influence" become so heavy it takes away our free will? We cannot escape our personalities. It's who we ARE. On top of that, we all have past experience and other environmental factors to take into account. (Some would say that those things are a part of our personalities. Same thing.)
Conclusion (Kind of): So we Make Choices. But our Choices are so heavily influenced that they are quite predictable. Now I'm not saying that I can guess what colour socks you will wear tomorrow. BUT say we had some sort of device. If we put all of your history, your life story, every quirk of your "individual" personality, into that device it could, theoretically, determine the decision you would make in any given situation.
The Real Conclusion: I do not know if that is free will or not. But I really truly believe it. I hope that anyone reading this has at least been given something to think about, even if their opinion is radically different.
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