Should Determinism Depress Us?
This post is for anyone for whom a belief that the universe is deterministic leads to despair. If you know someone for whom this line of thinking is helpful, please share.
For the sake of rhetorical efficacy, I’m going to accept the premise of a deterministic universe but reject the conclusion that it ought to depress us.
The determinist-depressive holds something like this: “If everything is determined, if there is no true freedom or agency, there is no meaning. If there is no meaning, I can’t experience abiding joy.”
My response, in the form of Socratic questions:
How do you know the belief in determinism is driving the depressive mood, rather than the other way around (determinism is a rationalization or alibi for something else?)
Given that not everyone who accepts determinism is depressed or nihilistic, are you sure determinism requires nihilism as the best or most rigorous response? How do you know your nihilism is a warranted response and not a personal distortion? That is, why does determinism necessarily mean meaninglessness and why does meaninglessness require sadness?
If the universe is determined, shouldn’t this let you off the hook (there’s nothing to do about it), and thus make you lighter? Nihilism makes sense only against a backdrop of expectation that there should be meaning. Why should that be your presumption?
Say that everything is governed by mechanistic laws. So what? Isn’t the interesting and meaningful part of life the part that is singular rather than commonplace? Yes, everything is governed by gravity, but that’s not what’s most compelling about this particular leaf blowing in the wind right now.
What positive role does nihilism play in your life? Who would you be if you weren’t nihilistic? Do you want to be that person?
What else would you ask?
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