More Philo-Speak

Wednesday’s Word

Determinism

            For every event, there exist conditions that could cause no other event

Whoa, right?

This is a heavy one.

In my philosophical studies this month, I’ve been giving all sorts of mind space to the idea of actions. I’ve discussed and examined prudence with regard to being virtuous and leading a disciplined life, and ontology, the state in which something comes into existence. Only natural that I start to think about causality with regard to actions.

I often wonder if the path that I’m on is as much because it’s been prescribed for me in this life, with these goals and intents, or if I’m on this path because of the particular set of choices I’ve made to lead me where I am. Of course, I’m all for the Universe taking most of the credit, because I believe in manifest destiny and the fact that every single thing happens for a reason. But lately, I’ve been trying to understand the thought behind that one – that is, if everything happens for a reason (because it does) then does that mean I really have no choice in anything at all?

Bear with me while I unravel this one.

If every single action within a given paradigm is bound by causality that’s been determined by something in the past, that means that at no point in my life am I actually deciding to do something. Rather, when I arrive at some particular decision, it’s because that’s the only decision that is essentially available to me. This emphatically goes against and is completely contrary to the ways I want to live my life. Even if everything happens for a reason, I still want to think that I have sort of say in all of it. But if I prescribe to this particular mode of thinking, then it seems I don’t have any choice at all. And that’s pretty much whack in my book. Much like the rest of the words I’ve written about this month, this one is going to take some further thought.

Unravelling this word is really a mind fuck, right?