Q&A: Determinism and Meaning
Determinism and Meaning
Question
Hello Rabbi/Dr. Michael Abraham. What is the meaning of life for a deterministic person? What is the motivation to go on living as a determinist? If a person is a determinist, then all he really does is "experience" the events that have been decreed for him by some higher power (religious or secular). It’s more or less like watching a movie of your life. The absence of your involvement in your own life is a crazy absurdity. How can someone live an absurdity?
Answer
This is a question in psychology, and it should be directed to a psychologist. But I don’t understand what is difficult here. The determinist sees the world as dictated by various forces. The will to live is also created by them. After all, he does not decide his desires, so I don’t see why he would experience any despair. According to his view, it depends on the way he is constructed.
Discussion on Answer
Again, he doesn’t "adopt" anything. He is what he is.
In any case, it seems to me like total absurdity: on the one hand to live with intention and choice, and on the other hand to know that you’re just a "tool" through which what has already been decided passes.
"To live with intention and choice"? I lost you.
I meant, to live with the feeling that you are choosing.
That feeling too is forced on you. You keep mixing up levels of discussion.
Still, these are lives empty of meaning. A person who adopts the deterministic view will certainly also adopt apathy toward his actions—once he does something bad, he can justify it by saying that he didn’t really choose it. What is a bad deed at all, as a value? What are human rights?