A few months back a friend made a point which stuck with me. The import of what he said was that as individuals we don’t have any power. The situation decides whether we are of importance or not. So the situation would decide whether the role I am, or someone else is, playing today is important..…as individuals we don’t control anything.
The level of determinism is high. We are born into our families. To a large extent we don’t choose the people we grow up with or the school we go to. What we wear, we eat, the college or specialization we take up – all are subject to social forces. But does it mean that there is nothing we as individuals can choose?
Even the presence of a single alternative implies that there is choice. The strength of social forces might determine the number of alternatives we have at our disposal but what are the chances that we would land up in a situation where there are no alternatives. Can you think of a situation where you were left with no alternatives? I can’t think of any.
We do have a free choice and what characterizes we, human beings, is the freedom to choose our own course of action: our own alternative (even though our choice may be subject to social forces which have been embedded into our unconscious). The element of environment is always there, but how many opportunities in that environment I tap into would depend on my free choice and will. That is an act of choosing the state of “I know that the environment would be there but within that context what’s the best I can do? Can I change the environment itself?” over the state of “Life is deterministic. Let me take what comes to my plate.
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Sourav
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