3 ms·
"Every action, activity, hobby, or ritual is nothing more than the pursuit of a certain mental state." In other words: determinism. The philosophy opposed to "
by nudpiedo 7y ago
"Every action, activity, hobby, or ritual is nothing more than the pursuit of a certain mental state."
In other words: determinism. The philosophy opposed to "free will."
That is the same as saying: humans are goal directed animals, etc. Even when they are not aware of it. It's interesting as a working framework for habit makers etc.
- eveningcoffee 7y agoI do not think that it is describing determinism. I am not sure how you did come to this conclusion. Perhaps you can elaborate more deeply? I think that this piece extends our control over our free will (i.e. gives us more free will) because it helps us to see and understand our inner state more clearly. But I think that strictly following it can also be limiting because it will leave out unexpected outcomes. For example you may not go to see some concert/play etc because you have estimated how it would affect your mental state and have decided it to be not worthwhile. Perhaps it would have been a ground breaking experience you could not have ever imagined.
- nudpiedo 7y agoFor me it is the clear message of the post: humans do not have free will but obey to a set of rules which happen to be a "stack of mental states" ergo humans are deterministic (implicit conclusion). These mental states are described in previous literature. I also didn't study philosophy long enough to have a lengthy debate, but I can identify the topic and the argument.