Quote:
Originally Posted by Pasdasuga
This quote is telling to me for a couple of reasons. Before I get to those, I'll first admit that most of what you and many others arguing the determinists side of this issue are saying makes a lot of sense. I can see how it is convincing, and I certainly won't bet against some or most of it eventually being proven correct - or anyway more correct than our perceptions lead us to believe.
But my problem is that the science is just so young. We have so little convincing evidence I'm afraid what is actually happening is a lot of people are jumping on this idea before they should. Why? Perhaps as a backlash against religion. Or even as a way to escape personal responsibility, because they are unhappy with their own choices. You say it is harmful to falsely believe in personal responsibility, but it seems to me much less harmful than falsely believing there is no personal responsibility.
I fully prescribe to the notion we should embrace the truth. The universe does not care what we believe, it just is. But I don't think this question has been settled by a long shot, even after several millennia.
Right. It hasn't been settled. But we can't help but lean one way or another based on our beliefs.
As far as the personal responsibility, I think the destruction caused by this notion is often overlooked and grossly underestimated. I could easily be way wrong on this of course. But I think the old saying "take some responsibility" causes people to do two things that are generally very harmful:
1.) Take way more credit than they deserve for actions that were more a result of them flukily being in the right spot at the right time than their character being superior to other peoples'.
2.) Blame themselves a lot more than they deserve for actions that were more a result of them flukily being in the wrong spot at the wrong time than their character being inferior to other peoples'.
The problem with the sayings spouted by most libertarians such as "take some responsibility for your life" or "stop making excuses" is that they are based on awful assumptions that are basically religious, such as the idea that everyone was born with an equal chance at achieving the best life possible, or that we are all able to make unconstrained choices at any moment. C'mon now.
In my opinion, honesty should trump the notion of personal responsibility. Excuses are only bad if they're given in an attempt to lie. Yet, so many times I've given a legitimate excuse that was honest and been told, "I don't want to hear excuses; take some responsibility!" This is the phrase that has pissed me off perhaps more than any other in my lifetime. Lack of personal responsibility is only bad if someone truly was solely responsible for something (this is, of course, probably never the case, yet most people act like we are all separate and independent agents freely willing our lives in whatever direction we please).
(1) results in excessive pride. (2) results in excessive guilt. This is where the guessing games begin. How much are our experiences ravaged by those two emotions? More than most people would like to think, in my opinion.