There is No Path Not Taken
Series: Your Philosophy Minute with Prof. Andrew Pessin
From: Andrew Pessin
Length: 00:02:01
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- Andrew Pessin
Lots of things determine what choices we make: hunches, personality, our beliefs and desires, the laws of nature, etc. And it turns out we don't control any of these things. So while it may seem to us, living life forward, that we have genuine options, that the road forks and it is up to us which path to take -- in fact what we "choose" is entirely determined by factors out of our control. There's just a single road ahead, and we have no choice but to take it.
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Piece Description
Lots of things determine what choices we make: hunches, personality, our beliefs and desires, the laws of nature, etc. And it turns out we don't control any of these things. So while it may seem to us, living life forward, that we have genuine options, that the road forks and it is up to us which path to take -- in fact what we "choose" is entirely determined by factors out of our control. There's just a single road ahead, and we have no choice but to take it.
Transcript
Every choice I make presents two options: the one I choose, and the one I instantly regret not having chosen. I find myself wishing for a “do-over,” as if I could roll back time and make the other choice. But of course you can’t do that. Even if you could roll back time, you couldn’t make the other choice.
What explains our choices? Well lots of things. Sometimes we have hunches. We have complicated features such as personality. Many of our choices are brought about by our beliefs and desires. And there are the laws of nature. We are at least physical creatures and our brains operate according to those laws. And what we do next is pretty much what our brains tells us to do.
But now -- do we control any of these things?
Certainly not our hunches; these just happen to us. Certainly not our personality: if nerdy people could, wouldn’t they become cool, like us? Can we con...
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Additional Credits
Music by Arthur Kreiger
