I. FREEDOM VS. DETERMINISM

One of the knottiest of questions in philosophy and in life is, to what extent are we free to determine what happens to us and to what extent is everything determined in advance?  Some Christians, particularly the followers of John Calvin, believed that when it came to the question of who is "saved" and who isn't, God has already determined that.  The theory was called "predestination" and some people extended that to refer to all sorts of things in life.  A story is told about one such a person who took a bad fall down stairs and afterwards said, "Well, I'm glad that's over."

"I Shot an Angel by Mistake", by Tim Holmes
There are those who even believe that your time to die has already been determined.  I think the theory that all things are predetermined is, for some people somewhat comforting.  It almost relieves one of some responsibility and gives one a reassuring sense that things are in "someone else's" hands.  It borders on what is called "fatalism."  Someone said, "I'm not a fatalist, but if I were what could I do about it?"

I think "predeterminism" of any kind is a cop-out.  It lets us off the hook too easily from assuming responsibility for the decisions we make and their consequences.  Of course that doesn't mean we're in final control either.  So the question is still a good one: how determined are we and how free?

The answer to that question that I suggest is captured in this simple diagram.  Draw a vertical line down the present moment.

Of course this doesn't mean you are free to determine everything that happens because there are any number of unpredictable elements–– the whims of nature or the economy, the possibility of accidents and, of course, the free choices of other people. But at least it's important to know that we are not utterly powerless to shape our own future to some degree.  We are not just playing out a script that someone else has already written for us.  Powerlessness is always a fraud.

I would add one caveat to the statement that the past is already determined and that is that in some ways you are free to make sure that the past doesn't determine the future.  Just what I mean by that will become clear a few pages later.

Are there some ways in which you've assumed yourself to be powerless when, as a matter of fact, you may not be at all?


NEXT TIME:  THE GENIUS OF DIALOGUE


TOOLS AND APPROACHES   - I 

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