The Origin Of Evil?

Trust me though, I truly want to believe we have free will.MetalGear_Ninty

Why?

If we don't have free will, that was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow. Nothing in the world truly changes from simply discovering a fact that had been true all along. All that such a thing does is allow you to take reality better into consideration. I believe every word of what I said, but I see no reason why I ought to feel pointlessness as a result; I am still as capable of pursuing happiness today as I was before I was convinced that truefree will was ultimately an illusion.

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]

I am personally not so sure whether free will exists, but isn't that so nihilstic?

Perhaps it is, but I am of the opinion that the old adage is true that the truth - the whole truth, mind you, not just a select portion of it - is ultimately liberating. I do not believe that one's life can be truly improved by ignoring reality; one's existence is much richer and fuller, in my view,if one faces reality and finds one's way in reality, not in what one wishes reality to be.

If we have no free will, how are we not just machines subject to the circumstance of physical interactions, and not truly responsible for anytihng. Without free will, 'I' cannot exist, but rather only 'it' exists.MetalGear_Ninty

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]Trust me though, I truly want to believe we have free will.GabuEx

Why?

If we don't have free will, that was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow. Nothing in the world truly changes from simply discovering a fact that had been true all along. All that such a thing does is allow you to take reality better into consideration. I believe every word of what I said, but I see no reason why I ought to feel pointlessness as a result; I am still as capable of pursuing happiness today as I was before I was convinced that truefree will was ultimately an illusion.

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]If we have no free will, how are we not just machines subject to the circumstance of physical interactions, and not truly responsible for anytihng. Without free will, 'I' cannot exist, but rather only 'it' exists.foxhound_fox

Happiness is peace of mind, one automtiacally feels at unrest when he is told that he is existentially redundant.MetalGear_Ninty

That is entirely your interpretation of what the facts mean. There is nothing in the lack of true free will that deprives meaning from that from which we do not allow it to do so. I find it very liberating - for example, it is through my recognition of the lack of existence of free will that has allowed me to truly see why total forgiveness (once a person is no longer capable of hurting me)makes perfect sense. If free will does not exist, then no person is evil; they merely are led through no ultimate fault of their own to a desire to do evil actions. Once I realized this, it was a simple matter to come to the conclusion that punishment ought only to be for the purposes of either rehabilitation of criminals or protection of society, not because the person "deserves it".

What made me happy yesterday will continue to make me happy tomorrow. If there is no purpose to life, then so be it - I will make my own. If in doing so I am simply acting out a predefined script, then so be it - I cannot know how the story ends, so it does not affect anything anyhow.

Anyway, how can this belief of yours reconcile itself with your theistic beliefs.MetalGear_Ninty

I don't see the contradiction between those two things.

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]Trust me though, I truly want to believe we have free will.GabuEx

Why?

If we don't have free will, that was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow. Nothing in the world truly changes from simply discovering a fact that had been true all along. All that such a thing does is allow you to take reality better into consideration. I believe every word of what I said, but I see no reason why I ought to feel pointlessness as a result; I am still as capable of pursuing happiness today as I was before I was convinced that truefree will was ultimately an illusion.

I can't, that's what's so depressing.

MetalGear_Ninty

I agree with what you're saying but I've got this problem with that idea: If you believe in a God, then taking a fatalistic worldview ultimately exonerates (took me about 5 minutes to remember that word :P) everyone but God from blame, doesn't it?jimmyjammer69

Blame, or credit, whichever way you wish to look at things.

I don't see the problem with that, though.

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"] I can't, that's what's so depressing.

foxhound_fox

Is this "I" the root of all "evil"?