Q&A: Psychological Determinism
Psychological Determinism
Question
In my current worldview, I do not see any objective state of free choice in a human being, only at the subjective level. That is, there is an experience of choice, but it is something of an illusion.
I do not remember from where, but I came to know that the Rabbi explained that in his opinion there is no such thing as “psychological determinism,” and I would be very happy if the Rabbi could refer me to the relevant source or present his explanation to me.
Thank you in advance, with best regards,
Answer
Greetings.
I do not recall having written anywhere that there is no such thing as psychological determinism. Personally, I do not believe in determinism of any kind, but determinism is a defined concept, so one cannot say that there is no such thing. I wrote a book about this called "The Science of Freedom."
You can read a summary of the matter in this article:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%98-%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%98%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%A9-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%9F/
Discussion on Answer
If you assume determinism, then of course you will get determinism. But that is begging the question. You are assuming from the outset that the current state dictates each person’s decision, so what is surprising about the result being a deterministic picture? I disagree with this, and in my opinion a person has choice. By the way, even if we accept the assumption that a person would choose the same thing under the same circumstances, that still does not prove determinism, since it may be that he chooses the same thing for the same reasons. That does not prove that it is forced upon him.
It is hard for me to elaborate on this by email. That is why I wrote an article and a book. If you want, you can come speak with me in person.
Greetings, Rabbi,
I would be glad to understand.
A person is created with a certain material structure, with a basic character, and with natural instincts by virtue of being a living creature. The infant’s first encounter with the experience of birth, and from that moment onward, is etched into him, and conclusions are immediately drawn on that basis. The baby accumulates experience and judges it according to his fixed starting points. From then on, in every encounter of any kind with reality, he will judge according to the insights within him and the memories of all kinds that he has. And of course a person has no control over what is outside him, and certainly whether it rains or not, I will draw a conclusion about how to proceed based on my previous encounter with rain and with all the other parameters currently before me that I have already encountered (and if I have not encountered them, then perhaps the next step I take will depend mainly on my past experience with a new reality).
And from the other side, if I were to go back in time, it is clear to me that I would make the same decisions, because they were made according to the understandings I had then. And so too at every point in my life, since every understanding is based on a previous understanding, and so on, back to the first understanding, which depends on the first encounter with reality (even sounds that my mother heard while she was pregnant), which itself depends on the behavior of matter, also necessarily, according to the course of nature.
Where, within this system, does a person’s free choice enter?
I do not have much familiarity with the philosophical world, nor with deep theoretical thinking, and the article was not really clear to me.
Best regards,