William Del Fresno
There are many questions that plague all of human existence. Questions which have no definite answer, and most likely never will in the span of all our lifetimes. Questions such as how do we know anything? Is there a thing as free will? And perhaps the largest of them all, what is the meaning of life? All these questions are questions asked in philosophy and deal with different views and approaches philosophers take to answer these practically impossible questions. Nagel in his book titled “What Does it all Mean?” tries to give certain viewpoints in how these questions may be answered, leaving them all open to interpretation.
I will give my viewpoints on these philosophical questions, presenting my understanding and views …show more content…
Nagel gives an example in which given the choice to choose between a peach and a cake, we have the capacity to have chosen the peach if we chose the cake. This is if everything was exactly the same previously and we were in the same scenario again, we would still have the power to choose differently. Determinism argues that we are a product of everything that has happened before that current moment we are in, it argues that we chose that piece of cake, because since the beginning of time and space everything that has occurred led us to choose that piece of cake and we have no choice but to pick that cake even if we have more choices. This view has its drawbacks though because of the mere fact that this means no one can be praised or punished for their actions because in the end it wasn’t in their control, they were destined to it. Nagel presents his opinion in the end saying he does not accept determinism is a good …show more content…
If put into a position in which I have more than one choice I believe my decision would be the outcome of my previous experiences. Just like other animals we are a product of our genetics and our environment. Being human does not excuse us from the fact that we are not affected whatsoever from our heredity and stimuli. The same way a lioness will have the tendency to attack another animal because it is in the animal’s nature is the same way a human works when making decisions. We are not excused from these laws because we are human, we are still a product of stimuli and react accordingly to these senses. Everything has a cause and an effect. Something must have happened for this decision to be made. To say that it was just some “unexplained event” as Nagel would say, that nothing is responsible for the actions we do, is a complete dead end and makes no
There are many questions that plague all of human existence. Questions which have no definite answer, and most likely never will in the span of all our lifetimes. Questions such as how do we know anything? Is there a thing as free will? And perhaps the largest of them all, what is the meaning of life? All these questions are questions asked in philosophy and deal with different views and approaches philosophers take to answer these practically impossible questions. Nagel in his book titled “What Does it all Mean?” tries to give certain viewpoints in how these questions may be answered, leaving them all open to interpretation.
I will give my viewpoints on these philosophical questions, presenting my understanding and views …show more content…
Nagel gives an example in which given the choice to choose between a peach and a cake, we have the capacity to have chosen the peach if we chose the cake. This is if everything was exactly the same previously and we were in the same scenario again, we would still have the power to choose differently. Determinism argues that we are a product of everything that has happened before that current moment we are in, it argues that we chose that piece of cake, because since the beginning of time and space everything that has occurred led us to choose that piece of cake and we have no choice but to pick that cake even if we have more choices. This view has its drawbacks though because of the mere fact that this means no one can be praised or punished for their actions because in the end it wasn’t in their control, they were destined to it. Nagel presents his opinion in the end saying he does not accept determinism is a good …show more content…
If put into a position in which I have more than one choice I believe my decision would be the outcome of my previous experiences. Just like other animals we are a product of our genetics and our environment. Being human does not excuse us from the fact that we are not affected whatsoever from our heredity and stimuli. The same way a lioness will have the tendency to attack another animal because it is in the animal’s nature is the same way a human works when making decisions. We are not excused from these laws because we are human, we are still a product of stimuli and react accordingly to these senses. Everything has a cause and an effect. Something must have happened for this decision to be made. To say that it was just some “unexplained event” as Nagel would say, that nothing is responsible for the actions we do, is a complete dead end and makes no