Q&A: Is Falling in Love Not a Deterministic Process?
Is Falling in Love Not a Deterministic Process?
Question
When I feel a strong sense of falling in love, much stronger than any feeling of free choice, it’s clear to me that this is purely a chemical-deterministic process. It’s like a drug.
“I’m in love” = powerful substances acting on the lump of matter (called me).
I don’t think there’s any need to bring in anything non-deterministic.
If you agree, then why can a much weaker feeling, like free choice, indicate a break in the deterministic chain?
Answer
I don’t agree. In my view, there is also a mental dimension and not only a physical one, and the mental is not necessarily determined by the physical. There are decisions involved here too. Lust is probably physical, but love contains more than lust.
Search here on the site for “Love and Lust,” and you’ll find quite a few results where I explain this more fully.
I didn’t understand what the intensity of the feeling has to do with the issue at hand. What matters is the content of the feeling, not its intensity.