Can You Take Credit for Who You Are? by Ben Bayer

In this episode of Philosophy for Living on Earth, ARI’s Ben Bayer explores one of life’s big questions: “Can you take credit for who you are?”

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[Oldcoots]

"You are free to think or evade that effort". True that, but you must be willing to expend the effort and many people aren't.

[exilfromsanity]

If I can't take credit for who I am then I can't be blamed for who I'm not.

[SamFreedom]

INCREASE THE FKNG RECORDING VOLUME, BEN.

[Oldcoots]

Memo to Dallas Cowboys: The root cause of your numerous failures is explained from 48:50 to 50:20. You're Welcome.

[drstrangelove]

Please do not use the word "problematic." It's very common these days that the people who use that term are messed up.

[SpacePatrollerLaser]

There is a certain attractiveness to Determinism. This is because of the Laws of Identity and Non-contradiction. A thing can only do what its identity permits or enables it to do. Now when we speak about "do"ing, we speak of process. This is governed by the Laws of Identity and Non-Contradiction, and the rules of logic over time. Thus a rhinoceros will never fly to Johannesburg from Bechwanaland under its own power. Birds do not have hollow bones for no reason, they also run an internal temperature of over 102 degress F. The metabolism and wingspan needed for a rhino to fly are impssible. So, it's a good bet that you can say that process is determined or if noat strictly, probablistically, or, "statistically". When a knoweldgeble person hears "statistically" he knows that that means "with a certain known and predtable amount of 'wiggle room' and what that 'wiggle room' is", Among the honest knowledgeable, this is replacing Derminism with the term "fit"


Now we notice that certain entities are to a greater or lesser extent, abile to begin processes on their own accord in a self-contained manner. Chief among these are humans. Humans are also able to "get around" the Law of Non-contradiction as it is usually stated by "A thing cannot be A and non-A". But that statement is incomplete. Missing is "in the same respect at the same time". That opens up a whole lot of things. I am an honest person, I will not lie. Yet, if I am dealing with a person who uses force or fraud habitually, that changes the "respect" in which I deal with him and I will often use deception pre-emptively, since be being a habitual user of those means to ends, he automatically puts them on the table. This is where volition comes in. It is part of the IDENTY of the sjubject to be able to intiate process or to enter from "the side" and alter a process. Thories of "free will" vary widely from quite limited to anything goes. For Objectivism it is "to think or not to think [though I cannot recall a time for me in my life where that was not an auatomatic consequeance of being presented with something new or a problem, even - or ESPECIALLY, if I've got the shit scared out of me]". it is interesting that both Christianity and Objectivism use essentially the same idea for the human soul. For one it is "the intellect and the will" and for the other it is "volitional rational consciousness", with "consciousness" reased to one of the corollaries of "Existence exists" and you know what THAT is. Translate that to a pre-scientific and medieval mindset and do you wonder why they considered the soul to be "immortal'? Also in the medieval mind The existence and goodness of God was believed to have been proved by Reason to the satisfaction of any honest man so that "faith" was justified by that "fact" and that physical knowledge was very limited. "Justifiation by faith alone" was the Protestant response to what they did not realize was the mis-use of Reason by the Church officials, when in fact, the Protestant reformers should have doubled down on Reason and claimed it as their own. Now notice that volition is INTERNAL, that is it starts the engine, it does not put the car in Drive. However starting the engine is necessary to putting the car in Drive si starting the engine is necessary and sufficient to starting the process of putting the car in Drive ending in the car and driver wining up in New York, comiing from Providence. Once started, to be completed the car HAD to go down Rt 1, Merritt Parkway or, 1-95 S, so that much is determend and the specifics, a matter of probability


I also wonder if the choice not to think is passive, somply turning off the mind. consider the phrase form tRM "And it is the 'Blan outs' that are the blackest marks on a human soul" Rand has held that to be evaluated morally, something must be done actively. So the choice must be a fork in the road and we all know that "when you come to a fork in the road, take it". When you talke one branch you think on the material in the external world. If you take the other, You actively "Blank out" or EVADE so there is no "none of the above". Now this can happen by accident or circumstance, such as being psychologically overwhelmed at the time. (in which case choice could not occur) or being psychologically "on strike" for some reason. However it comes to a time when one chooses to "ratify" or make a policy of evasion. Now this ACT has to ocur BEFORE and CAUSITIVE to ANY act of deliberate evil, whether it is the tawdry venal lies that persons tell or the murder or genocide of 100, 000, 000 - or an entire planetfull, of persons. I submit that this ratification and subsiequent makine policy of evasion is the true Original Sin (and pleas note that it is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Christian say original sin is)



How this relates to character is that at any given moment, character is the result of multiple processes, which, while the resut of choices, is probablistic at the point of discussion

[jhljhl]

Why wouldn't you take credit for who you are?

[TreeLuvBurdpu]

I wonder if it was predetermined to glitch right at that point.

[topol]

Ben Bayer, this is a very good webinar by you and ARI. Keep up the good work.

[waneagony]

These videos are great. Thanks. I hope you do some more content on the Fountainhead. There is not much on it out there.