RE: The place of rage and hate
November 13, 2014 at 8:39 pm
(This post was last modified: November 13, 2014 at 8:45 pm by bennyboy.)
Here's the thing: philosophy matters.
We know a lot about the brain, and most of us believe that our behavior is a product of brain function-- not a soul. We believe furthermore that the self is part of that brain function-- memories, emotions, etc. interacting in a complex way, being observed subjectively. So where is the real self-control, except as a euphemism for the mechanical (and deterministic) functioning of the human brain as it interacts with the environment? If a person has a brain malfunction, or even just a bad idea, that leads to bad actions, where is the blame?
Now let's step back and imagine that human behavior is mediated by something else-- the soul. It is the quality of the soul which somehow mediates brain function and results in a behavioral response to the environment. Fine. But where does this soul get the magical power to do other than it will just tend to do? If a person has a bad soul, did he choose to have a bad one? And if he never really had a choice, then where is the blame? And, in fact, we can see this right from the start-- some young people, boys in particular, are clearly destined to be troublemakers, right from day one. They won't sit down in class, they pull the wings off of bugs, the burn worms just to laugh at them squirm, they call little girls names just for the pleasure of making them cry. They grow up to be misogynists, beat their wives, etc. Clearly, they just don't respond to the world the way more feeling people do. But at what point did even those assholes say, "I want to be the biggest asshole in the world. I want everyone who meets me to hate me, and will do everything I can to be annoying"?
Now, that doesn't mean we aren't free to develop a moral code, or that our feelings about morality aren't real. But all this must be taken with a grain of salt-- that freedom is just a euphemism for "impossible to fully understand because it's so incredibly complex"-- it does not really mean that any individual could possibly have done otherwise than he has done. No matter how horrible the things he's done happen to be.
We know a lot about the brain, and most of us believe that our behavior is a product of brain function-- not a soul. We believe furthermore that the self is part of that brain function-- memories, emotions, etc. interacting in a complex way, being observed subjectively. So where is the real self-control, except as a euphemism for the mechanical (and deterministic) functioning of the human brain as it interacts with the environment? If a person has a brain malfunction, or even just a bad idea, that leads to bad actions, where is the blame?
Now let's step back and imagine that human behavior is mediated by something else-- the soul. It is the quality of the soul which somehow mediates brain function and results in a behavioral response to the environment. Fine. But where does this soul get the magical power to do other than it will just tend to do? If a person has a bad soul, did he choose to have a bad one? And if he never really had a choice, then where is the blame? And, in fact, we can see this right from the start-- some young people, boys in particular, are clearly destined to be troublemakers, right from day one. They won't sit down in class, they pull the wings off of bugs, the burn worms just to laugh at them squirm, they call little girls names just for the pleasure of making them cry. They grow up to be misogynists, beat their wives, etc. Clearly, they just don't respond to the world the way more feeling people do. But at what point did even those assholes say, "I want to be the biggest asshole in the world. I want everyone who meets me to hate me, and will do everything I can to be annoying"?
Now, that doesn't mean we aren't free to develop a moral code, or that our feelings about morality aren't real. But all this must be taken with a grain of salt-- that freedom is just a euphemism for "impossible to fully understand because it's so incredibly complex"-- it does not really mean that any individual could possibly have done otherwise than he has done. No matter how horrible the things he's done happen to be.
