RE: Fatalism and the Law of Attraction
As a kind of hard determinist, I tend to disgree with a number of your assertions.
First of all, I believe that man acts in accordance with their nature, their proclivities, their biological and genetic predispositions. To help you understand where I am coming from, I do not believe man possesses the power of contrary choice.
If I was presented an opportunity for one thing or another, it is because my nature determined I would make that choice. My nature dictated that I would not raise my hand and thus, I did not.
Perhaps, such a perspective on reality seems rather droll than supposing that we had an infinite number of possibilities. I don't find Heisenberg uncertainty to be compelling enough to draw this manner of conclusion.
I don't know if I would call my self a fatalist; however. I imagine a lot of these consign themselves to no action because they think the outcome cannot be changed but I don't view it in such a manner. We have power to shape our destiny but I think the end state has already been defined before we get there. Our choices our merely a revealing of this and is compatible with the deterministic paradigm.
I also like to alluded to one making a choice on what ice cream we eat. Let's say I have an option of chocolate or vanilla. At the instant preceding my decision in my mind, the the ice cream I choose is the one that I desired most, maybe chocolate this time. I contend that I cannot in this instance have chosen vanilla. We choose according to our nature and our nature encompasses our desires.
I'm going to read your article again when I get home but next time more slowly. It's a pretty lofty topic and requires careful inquiry. Look forward to discussing further.
It's kind of funny to me because I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying as that's how I thought about existence for most of my life. It's curious to me whether or not it was determined that at some point I would shift away from that line of thought into the one I have now. It's a paradox in and of itself because if it was determined that I would move away from deterministic logic, then does that mean that it was determined that at some point I would outlive the usefulness of that logic or am I just in denial of my old mindset. Interesting food for thought indeed.
Ok. I see. I think it would be safe to say utility plays a part in your adopting a philosophical point of view. I think this largely depends on how one would define utility. What would you consider makes a philosophy useful?
In my case, my ultimate determining factors are veracity, consistency, and intelligibility. I have a hard time conceptualizing libertarian free will in a mechanical sense which in my mind is something I have not been able to reconcile because I think it is evident that there are a lot of material factors that affect our decision-making.
I suppose personally it just helps me to make peace with my own existence. It's not really a tangible utility I suppose, but if life isn't worth living, then no amount of utility is going to change that. Rich people commit suicide just like poor people, I think if anything utility is probably inconsequential to mental health and spiritual well-being from my perspective. I had the whole career, decent money, American dream, and all that but it was never enough to make me happy doing things I didn't want to do. Perhaps it's all just personal preference on how we progress through life.