In the fifteenth talk James describes will in a broader and in a narrower sense. He says the broader sense is designated to our entire capacity for impulsive and active life, which includes our instinctive reactions and those forms of behaviors that have become secondarily automatic and semi-unconscious through frequent repetition. He says “in the narrower sense, acts of will are such acts only as cannot be inattentively performed.” (p.87) He also talks about how much of what we do is due to habit.
“It is clear that in general we ought, whenever we can, to employ the method of inhibition by substitution.” (p. 94) He says that inhibition by substitution is “the inhibiting idea supersedes altogether the idea which it inhibits, and the latter quickly vanishes from the field.” (p. 94) The reason I like this passage is I agree, as long as we don’t loss the ability to compensate for change. Although, I sometime wonder about some of the things that have become such routine for me. Like the other day I was driving to school and once I sat down in my class I couldn’t even remember driving to class. Now I knew I drove to class but I was so zoned out thinking about other things in my life I just could remember the details about the drive.
How much free will do we really have?
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ReplyDeleteI think that we have very little free will. Often times, I think about my life and I realize that I do the same things every day. I get up, go to the bathroom, eat breakfast, drive to school, listen to a lecture, talk to my classmates, come home and do homework, eat dinner, watch TV, and then go to sleep. Our lives are comprised of our habits and the things that we do even when we don't think that we are doing them. Even though you don't recall driving to school, you do know that you arrived at school in some kind of way. But driving to school is a habit so it is something that you do not have to think about in order to do it. How can we see the difference between free will and habit?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you but I am at war with my self because sometimes I think we have as much free will as we want. Like you said you do the same thing every day, well part of me feels that you have made the choice to do the same thing every day but part of me feels that you were taught growing up this is the way we do things every day. But if something happens and we are not able to do what we normally do it can make us feel like we are not in control. So, the feeling of having control has control over our behavior, which means very little free will.
ReplyDeleteHow can we see the difference between free will and habit?
That is a very good question but I am not sure. My question is, Does the habit have to be done or can it be changed? I think if it has to be done because you won't be able to function normally without doing it then I would say it is a habit that would be very are to break. If it can be changed with no problem then I believe it is closer to free will.
Thank you so much for your comment.