I want answers to these questions so that I know what is the reason that I am here? How does an individual perceive human freedom? Why are we here right now? All these questions are taking up a lot of space in my brain, and I am on a mission to solve this problem.
I agree when Banach says "How, then, can I be free when most of my external circumstances are determined by forces beyond my control, when I cannot help where I was born, what type of body I have, and what type of abilities my brain has predisposed me towards?"Even though we have the most control over ourselves for many things, there are still many aspects that we will never be able to change. It's just the way it is, there is no way to turn back.
Are we really our own boss? I feel like we are for many things that are in our control; but when we see it as an alternative it doesn't seem to be in our full control anymore. An example is when Banach points out "An artist cannot control the nature of the canvas, nor of the paints that she has to work with. Nor can she control the nature of the subjects she will paint. But she can control how she will view them...We may not be able to control the various elements within our experience that come from outside us, but we can view them and combine them in any way we like." I agree with this statement, even thought it seems that we have the power over what we are doing or the materials we are using, when we look at it another way, these thoughts are altered.
But why do we seem to care about such things? Why are we so confused about one little aspect in life?
It may be impossible to get the straight forward answer for all of these questions, because it depends on the person and how they answer it. This is why to find the answer to these questions seems to be a bit confusing for many. Even though someone is able to receive the "right" answer, they will be wrong for many because it all depends on what the individual thinks. There will never really be a "right" answer.
Why does freedom seem to make the human race happy?
Banach states "We now need to see what view of human happiness and of morality arise from this conception of human freedom." What is human freedom? One may think of it differently from another, wouldn't they. To me human freedom is what makes you happy, you are allowed to do what ever fancies you. I guess after reading this lecture, we do not have complete freedom since we are not able to have control over all the aspects of our life (gender, parents, birthday). It's the way it is, and will be forever.
The point of total freedom is to gain happiness in yourself. If you are a normal person you would perceive it in a normal way. Meaning if you have total freedom you would not go down the street killing anyone you see because you feel like it and you know you can do it. You would respect others surrounding you, just like many others do to you as well.
Banach has many interesting things that he states through out his lecture. It is able to help me see many perspectives in life.
I think we all have different explanations about our freedom, but most of us are on the same page.
One question that i really liked was "Why does freedom seem to make the human race happy?" i guess people nowadays just want to do whatever they please. However, if you think about what would really happen if everyone had the freedom to do whatever they please will it benefit people? All i can imagine if that the world would be in chao and it will be like the Survival of the fittest.
ReplyDeleteIs everyone's idea of freedom the same? i mean if you randomly ask people what is freedom will they all agree on one thing? what if someone said if drugs were legal it would give them freedom are we suppose to change that law just to make someone happy? How do we know what is "good freedom"and what is "bad freedom"?
Can we really make everyone happy?
What a long post. If only I had an attention span. Anyway, you pose some interesting questions and your answers are definitely understandable. Here are my answers to some of these questions:
ReplyDeleteWhy are we here right now? I do not think there is really a purpose for anyone's presence on earth. Everything that is here today is a result of preceding events that have led up to the current day.
Are we really our own boss? I talk about this on my own blog. Urges are uncontrolable.
Why are we so confused about one little aspect in life? I agree with what you say about it being impossible to find real answers to all of these questions. These things are a matter of opinion and cannot be proven. This means that people will always be able to entertain themselves by arguing over such matters.
Why does freedom seem to make the human race happy? I think that the value of freedom is not only due to human nature, but also due to American culture. There have been many civilizations in the past like monarchies, autocracies, facshist societies, and socialist societies that have not really valued freedom. At the very least the leaders surely did not want freedom for their people because they would lose power. Even I don't believe total freedom is a good thing. As you said, you should allow some outside influences to affect the way you act. As Julie said, chaos would result from absolute freedom. The right balance of perceived freedom and perceived individuality is key.
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ReplyDeleteJulie…
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your thoughts and ideas about my post; they help me think deeply about this topic. The questions you ask me are the most helpful since I can think about them as well and be able to answer them for my next post…hopefully. In my post I was focused on the happiness of humans and how it connects to having freedom. Your questions seem to be based on the idea of freedom and if all of our thoughts about it are similar or different. I mainly talk about how freedom leads into happiness for humans; you talk about how the ideas of all humans on freedom relate and differ with each other. Both of our thoughts are based on human freedom, but we find our own way into thinking about the main concept.
Amber M.
Corey,
ReplyDeleteYour answers to my questions really show that you really understand what I wrote about in my post. They really helps me in letting me know what other people think about my ideas and questions. After reading your answers I am able to make similar connections and differ from some things as well. This helps me dig deeper into the topic. In my post I talk about the human freedom and how it leads us all into happiness; you talk about how it relates to human culture and many other big questions, like why we live on this planet…what is the reason for our presence? We basically talk about the same things but at some places our ideas are a bit different, but of course that’s okay. If we all lived under one idea then there would be no difference between us…right? We both are on the same page here, but I am questioning more about the connections between human freedom and human happiness while you say that it has to do with American culture. We both have many thoughts and questions on this topic and we have our own ideas to answer them.
Amber M.