Dostoevsky declares that man's most advantageous advantage, for which he would forsake all else, is free will. He says that the exertion of free will preserves our individuality, and is a "manifestation of all life" (45). This is why he so opposes the idea of having a perfectly orderly, rational world: everything would already more or less be assigned to its own position and path, leaving little room for personal choice. This correlates closely with our discussion of freedom versus determinism.
In a pre-determined world, nothing seems to hold any significance. When there is only a single permissible path for one to follow, any value that could have been attributed to its experiences is stripped; if there is not a true choice, nor can there be an attributed judgment of character or morality. Thus, in a deterministic world, there can be no moral values, since no one can make any moral or immoral choices in the first place.
Although the version that Dostoevsky gives of this world (there is choice, but humanity as a whole only acts rationally) is a bit less extreme, I could not stand to live within either experience. I would provide proof to his assertion that a human is "a creature that walks on two legs and is ungrateful" (46) in that I would readily give up a flawlessly planned rational life for a moment of my own foolish freedom.
In fact, in a sense, I feel like I am currently experiencing such an irrational inclination. While our modern world is still far from the restriction of Dostoevsky's model, there remains an expected route: go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a well-paying professional job, get married, have children, and retire to Florida. Although there are certainly choices within that series of expectations, I am already unsatisfied with being confined to such a set path. My desire to express freedom of choice creates within me a highly irrational urge to abandon school and travel the world, consequences be damned.
This is just one instance of evidence proving Dostoevsky's claim that free will is man's most advantageous advantage. An overly-structured world breeds restlessness and the urge to deviate, even if such deviation could be disadvantageous overall.
I understand where you stand and agree. It does seem that we are living in a world that is determined, since there are expectations that we should fulfill. I think that the expected route just challenges Dostoevsky's model, but does not retract the fact that we live in a universe of free will.
ReplyDeleteI just agree with everything above.
I think a good point was made in terms of how our society per-determines our future, and how if we as upcoming adults do not comply and at some point steer away we face huge consequences and can even be looked down upon. Yet, we are taught from a young age that we have control over our own destiny, a "freedom" to choose what is we want to do with our lives. I also agree with the notion that our society could be a challenge to Dostoevsky's model of the world and choice.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we're taught to be ambitious with our goals and "shoot for the stars" during our early years. I think it's less of a requirement to follow the school, career, family checkpoint system and more of an easy route to take. You work hard to get good grades in order to get into a good school so you can get a good job and support a family. I feel as if it's the most common path because it requires the least risk, not because we're required by society to follow it (although I'm sure some parents are more forceful with their guiding hand than others).
ReplyDeleteAnd rationality doesn't always mean following the societal norm. It could be a perfectly rational decision to drop out of school and pursue an acting career if you had the talent and the drive to do so.