Does free will exist? Its our destiny predetermines? Do we have a choice? Did we ever have a choice? According to Thomas nagel on his book “what does it all mean? ” There is a specific chapter dedicated to “Free will” in which nagel himself lays out a situation about the choice of a peach and a chocolate cake piece. He’s describing the situation and the dilemma between both choices. espite the fact that you thought you had a choice, that you could have the peach if you want but you made the decision that you’d rather have a piece of chocolate when it was determined all along that you in fact were going to have chocolate cake and not have the peach. It doesn’t matter how long it took you to decide that you indeed wanted the chocolate cake. this view is called determinism which is an idea that that we can know all laws of the universe and use them to predict what will happen. In other words, nagel believes in the laws of nature.
According to nagel it was pre determined even before you were born, all the situations and the situation before that one determined that you’d pick that option, therefore you really didn’t have a choice. You never did that was just a way of your brain processing what was going to be the outcome. “you probably wouldn’t be able sensibly to blame anyone to blame anyone at all for doing something bad or praise them for something good. if it was determined in advance that they would do it, it was inevitable: they couldn’t have done anything else given the circumstances as they were. o how can we hold them responsible “(Nagel, p53) However, nagel seems like he doesn’t agree with these theories at the end of the chapter. On the other hand, I don’t agree with these theories. I don’t believe that we were born and we had already picked something from birth. I don’t necessarily agree with Nagel. How about if am in the cafeteria and I grab the piece of cake, take a bit and then decide I no longer want the cake. That I want the peach instead. Does that mean I was supposed to do that, was it predetermined?
If we have no free will then why are we presented with choices every single day? or why do we overthink a choice, why do we put so much thought ecision? For instance, why this past week I decided I didn’t want to go to work, once I was at work I decided I no longer wanted to be there so I left. Its possible to make a decision and change it afterwards therefore I don’t believe its determined because if it was determined that I was going to do something, then I obviously have no reason to change it because it was already determined.
I have a choice every single day, I wake up and go to work and Its part of my everyday routine, however me going to work was a choice, as imp working. I see a pop up on my computer to inform my customer that they have been selected for a credit card and I debate whether imp going to tell them or not. I chose no with the first customer however with the second one I decided to tell my client and educate them about the card being offer? If I didn’t explain to the first customer, what was different about my second client? Nothing same account type.
It was just my choice to informed then Agreeing with the concept of this theory of free will would mean accepting that the terrorist who cause the 911 are just unfortunate people whom were born to with a purpose of destroying the twin towers That it wasn’t their fault that its who they are and in their nature, it’s a choice that the laws of the universe made before they were even born. If we have no free will then I believe this world, we live on would be chaotic hence the fact that no one could be accountable for the actions with the simple of excuse that it was just destiny. There’s no laws of universe to blame.
If this theory was true, then that means that we cannot punish monsters like Hitler who murdered millions of people. I believe that we are free to make our own decision but that doesn’t mean that there’s no consequences to it. I believe that’s the only thing that we as humans cannot choose for instance if I choose to rob a bank, there’s two possibilities there either I get away with or I get caught. Yes, I didn’t choose the aftermath but my decision was the one that lead into that. I believe that we are accountable for our own actions, I personally think that all of our actions in this life are what brought to where we are today.
I strongly believe that I’m free to do as I please, I have never felt like I was obliged to something because a I was being “forced” to, I have always felt in charge of my body, mind and decisions. For instance, I got pregnant at 20 years old, her father and I were in a bad place as a couple which drove me to look for ways out. As I started to explore my options, the only one that made sense to me without changing my life drastically was abortion so I started to gather all the required documentation in order to get this pressure done, I made an appointment and everything was ready.
I recall that day, I left my first class and started walking towards the parking lot. Once I arrived there, I searched for my car to my surprise I find a note from my now husband that says, “do not harm our peanut, please call me “. My heart sank, I busted in tears because my decision was made, I wanted to terminate it. I drove myself to the clinic, I played the waitron game. The doctor was ready for me and he was to start. At that moment I decided to switch my mind. I decided that it didn’t matter what was happening that I was going to have her. That was a decision I made after I thought and heartily felt that abortion was the answer.
I practiced my free will there, I believe that without free will then there is no meaning to life. it just beats the purpose. Why would we in a place where everyone is just doing what was written for them? What was set on stone by the “laws of universe”? if that were true, then we would never be accountable for the mistakes we make along the way, no one would be. We would just be mindless people wrongdoing and blaming it on the fact that free will does not exist. When I reality I strongly agree that free will does exist, life brings us experiences and with that comes the choices and mistakes that we make along the way.
We choose the action but never the outcome and that is something that we have all learned to live with Is There value in human existence? Thomas Nagel has a chapter dedicated to the “what is the meaning of life? ” but in reality he never really expressed his thoughts nor clarified. In this case he asks several questions as he proceeds to respond to them by setting examples. Nagel makes the readers ponder about caring about life in general stating that we are all going to die one day and the human race will vanish one day therefore all the struggles and success were for nothing. e already have a routine we work to earn money, to afford food, we eat when we get hungry and sleep when we are sleepy. Nagel states that despite the fact that we do these things either because its necessary or to make ourselves happy there is no true set meaning to each individual’s life. he implies that our lives might just be meaningless and yes we have our family and friends that care for us but other than that it will never matter that you existed all the goals you’ve set for yourself, all the defeats, the let downs and all the achievements.
In other words, their life as a whole doesn’t matter because those people care about you because they are in your life and vice versa therefore it was a meaningless life however he then invalidates this statement by arguing that if you were put into this earth, if anyone was put in this earth then you matter. There is a meaning to your life, you are not just a waste of oxygen. The point of it is that you were placed here for a reason, there is a purpose for it all and just live as you go. Despite nagel planting questions and answering them.
It still doesn’t answer to the true meaning of life. I just believe that the meaning of life is different for every individual, I strongly believe that everyone has a purpose, there is no minor role. We are in charge of seeking the truth and find the “meaning” of life. To find what we love, and live for it without caring about anything else, to not let anyone influence your passion. To exemplify this, l’d like to talk about a man that I didn’t know who he was till yesterday that I came across his story. His name is Mohammed bezel .
This man is a foster parent who only terminally ill children because he knows that if he doesn’t take them then no one else will. As of now this man has a 6-year-old foster child whom has been under his care since she was a month old. This little girl was born with a rare disease encephalocele; her head is too small for her thin body. Her brain didn’t develop, she’s, deaf and mute and its fed through a tube. However, this man doesn’t care about all the hard work this implied, he selflessly took her in. H. doesn’t care whether he sleeps or not, all he wants is for these children to feel the love that many refuse to give and that is something that he is passionate about him. I believe he found meaning to his life, through helping these terminally ill children.
My husband is a police officer and he’s one of the few people | know that actually feel like they found their purpose in life. He comes home every day telling me stories about getting a child out of an abusive home or taking a homeless person to a shelter to saving someone’s life or risking his life. Just as the restaurant staff are fulfilling their professional purposes in the present simply by doing their job, couldn’t we fulfil life’s purpose in the present simply by living our lives? I am going to argue that something like this must be true. But first we need to consider a little further the possibility that the future will provide us with meaning. ” Beginning . that is the life he chose, he chooses to sacrifice his life for the well being of others. He obviously finds a certain satisfaction to help others and happiness to help others.
He believes that is his purpose in this world to help those when needed. As you can see there is many ways to find purpose in life, there is many ways to find the meaning of life. However, there is no actual on answer on any book nor paper but ours and our perception towards this topic. The problem with perception is that everyone has a different perception, everyone perceives and sees things differently unfortunately there is no true definition to it. Conclusion “What does it all mean? ” is a book that makes you ponder about things that at a point you have thought about whether it was “what is life? , “did I really had to choose that? ” or “how do I know this? ” the truth is that we are all going to have different responses to all these questions.
We are all going to give different Reponses, because everyone has a different perception. We could read everything, have all the knowledge in the universe but truth is no one will ever know the reality of these things. Despite all efforts to try and understand the mysteries of the universe, despite having theories or think we have the answers we have no way to prove it. All we have left is our perception and thoughts about the subject.
