Causal Determinism
Philosophy Mini Paper 1 Causal determinism claims that our past, initial conditions are deterministicly conditioned by natural laws. Causal determinism deals with conditional predictability, which says that if I know all of my past/present material conditions and natural laws, then I can know my future causal path. Since we always base our choices on our highest desire, we can easily predict what choices one is going to make. It seems very plausible for casual determinism to be true. With causal determinism on one end of the spectrum, and existentialism on the opposite end, we have two conflicting philosophies of romance vs logic.
It seems only logical for us to assume that indeed, we base our decisions based upon what we deeply, truly desire the most. The notion that we lack the capacity of free will, though, is daunting. To think that we have no control over our lives is really rather terrifying, so it becomes very apparent why someone would want to reject these theories. Causal determinism hasn’t necessarily affected my views of life dramatically, but it helps keep everything into a conscious perspective. To live a meaningful life it’s important to live consciously, that is to say, to escape the hypnotizing effects of living life monotonously.
I believe that in order to accomplish a lucid life, it’s important to retain existentialist aspects in daily life. To live life on a path without the sense of freedom seems like it would be similar to those nightmares we have in which we know the horrors that are about to happen, but can do nothing to prevent it. To live a robotic life is too easy. To throw everything into the wind and say that we have no control over our lives is too easy. To say humanity has an inability to control itself is far too pessimistic and a twisted way to live one’s life.
It’s empowering to believe in one’s ability to make something of their life, to truly live life spiritually. I don’t feel that causal determinism should impacts one’s views on moral responsibility drastically. To think that whatever is going to happen will happen anyway, and to avoid morality, is definitely a flawed way of thinking. Because of our desire to live in a morally praiseworthy fashion, we may let moral values influence the decisions we make. We should not simply disregard everything happening in our surroundings because we think we have no control.
As far as friendship goes, yes, we typically befriend those that are like-minded in some regard or another. This isn’t a new or unusual concept, this notion is widely known. There are countless psychological factors that are at work with the ongoing process of friend-making. Causal determinism doesn’t change what is already known about making friends. Love is one of the most confusing of human emotions. To say that there is a soul mate for each person would be agreeing with causal determinism. It seems, in an odd sense, too romantic for the theory, but they’re one in the same regardless.
Some believe in soul mates, that there is one person each is destined to belong with. It would make sense for a causal determinist to believe in the idea of a soul mate. Causal determinism feels far too depressing to follow religiously in a day-to-day lifestyle. While the theory may be a logically correct way to look at life, it seems to strongly strip away what it means to live as a conscious human. Sure it’s important to keep a balance of logic and romance in the way one lives their life, but it seems like following causal determinism may be tipping this scale too far to one side.
