Q&A: A Conversation with a Friend
A Conversation with a Friend
Question
Hello Rabbi, my friend and I are both religious, except that he is a determinist and I am not. After a conversation with my friend, he illustrated his idea to me by saying that suppose I need to choose between two paths, path A or path B, and if I choose path A a lion will eat me, but if I choose path B a bus will run me over. So his conclusion is that according to the example he gave there is no choice at all, and I didn’t know what to answer. What do you think?
Answer
I didn’t understand the claim. Can you choose between A and B? If so, then why is there no choice? Because in the end you die either way? Then here’s a counterargument: suppose you need to choose between A and B. On A a bus will run you over, and on B you will run over the bus. The collection of words you wrote doesn’t add up, for me, to any coherent argument. In short, first explain the claim to me, and then I’ll try to think of a response.
Discussion on Answer
I don’t see an argument here, just a declaration. He assumes, with no basis whatsoever, that the same thing will always happen to me (and even then, I still have a choice whether to go to A or to B). In my opinion, that assumption is incorrect. That’s it. What is there to answer here?
Right, I also don’t agree. But I forgot to say that he gave as an example actions that are simply forced on a person, where even the choice to stop them won’t help—for example, some kind of attacks or episodes. From there he infers his conclusion that everything is determined, and that a person’s fate will happen to him at some point in some way no matter what, regardless of when and how the person chooses. (I hope I explained his point clearly…) I really appreciate that you reply to every comment, by the way.
Now you’ve moved on to a different question, and I don’t understand that one either. The fact that sometimes a person acts without choice—does that mean he never has choice? Are we always under attacks and compulsions?
See my two articles here:
https://mikyab.net/%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/
And here:
Thank you, Rabbi! I wish I could answer you, but I also don’t understand what he meant here. What I do know is that I don’t agree with his claim (about A and B) mentioned above.
So if it doesn’t bother you and you don’t agree, why are you asking? You don’t have a question. If he has a question, let him ask it.
I’ll direct him to the site so he can ask you.
Indeed, as you pointed out, according to the example he mentioned, no matter which path you choose you will die, and because of that, in my friend’s view, no choice exists at all. That raised a doubt for me, and that’s why I wanted to know what you think. And regarding what you just said—did you mean “you will run over the bus” in the sense that the bus would move off the road quickly in order not to run me over, and by doing so would crash and get into an accident? In any case, the claim is that there are situations (I’ll note that my friend said “that this happens in most situations”) where no matter what a person chooses, the same fate happens, and therefore a person has no choice. What do you think?