We’ve been toying with a fairly traditional philosophical model of freedom that thinks of it in terms of agency and determination. According to this model, agency is basically free will, which each of us possesses as long as we are in our “right mind,” while determination refers to the forces beyond our control that “determine” the options that actually confront us at any given time. In this model, agency is a given, while determination is a matter of history, chance, social structure, and the like. In this traditional model, agency is internal and determination is external. Free will is “in here,” while determination is “out there.” But guess what? Stories like “Somnambulism” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” — not to mention the theories of Sigmund Freud and neuroscience — suggest that very powerful determining forces are not external at all but are lodged in the deepest levels of the human psyche.
Now consider works like Walden (or Plato’s allegory of the cave, or The Matrix), which suggest that what we think of as reality is not reality at all. As suggested by the analogy with which Thoreau closes Walden, our conception of reality is to real reality as the morning star (aka Venus) is to the sun.
Now consider the possibility that ignorance is one of the determining forces limiting our freedom. If we are actually confronted with a choice between A, B, C, D, and E, but we are only aware of options A and B, is the choice that we go on to make fully free?
If we argue that it’s not — if we argue that freedom is partly a function of knowledge or awareness — then Walden is very much to the point. By suggesting that somewhere beyond our current awareness there lies an almost infinitely greater reality that we have not yet awakened to, Thoreau implies that there is also an almost infinitely greater kind of freedom that we have not yet attained. We might think we are really free, but that’s only because we’re still trapped in the matrix (or still stuck in Plato’s cave, or in the grip of some ideology, or whatever).
Yes? No? If yes — if in fact we are still stuck among the dark shadows of the cave — how can we get out into the bright sunlight?
Bonus questions: Is The Matrix just warmed-over Plato, only with cool sunglasses and Carrie-Anne Moss in black leather, or does it tell us something the Allegory of the Cave does not? Ditto for Walden.
Monday, November 8
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7 comments:
I agree that freedom has a basis in knowledge, however, the number of choices are potentially limitless and trying to find and understand them all can create a situation where no choices can be made, thereby limiting freedom. Additionally, awareness of those things beyond our reach can lead to dissatisfaction that can also limit freedom.
To me, true freedom comes from making choices based on what you know and who you are and being content with those choices until you have the needed knowledge or the desire/need to make another choice. For instance, as a wife and mother, I choose to do what was needed for my whole family and defer what I wanted as an individual. I did this knowing that it could lead to never obtaining my personal goals. I was also content with that decision and am now happy to be able to move forward with my own goals as my family is mostly grown now. I had a choice and made it and when new knowledge came along and changes in circumstances, I made a new decision. If I had chosen to continually gather information, the chances of my moving forward would have been greatly hindered by the process of gathering information and not having the ability to use it at that time.
Knowledge for knowledge's sake is not freedom. Freedom is using that knowledge to improve your life and, if we are very lucky, the lives of those around us as well.
If we are only aware of option A and B, and are not aware of option C, D, or E, then the choice that we make is only free to the extent of our knowledge. Since we don't know about the other options, they are oblivious to us, the choice appears to us to be free. When we learn that there are other choices, but the choices can't be chosen, then we feel that we do not have freedom. But to even limit our choices (A,B,C,D,E,...) seems to me to limit our freedom. we should also be free not to choose any of those choices but to choose our own, or just not choose. Another example that I can think of that plays a little with "The Matrix" is: right now I live in 3 dimensions. In math class I learned that there is a 4th dimension. I now know that there is an alternative to the 3d way I'm living now and decide to live in the 4th dimension. But... how? I should be free to choose, but how does one go from the 3d to the 4d? So am I really free?
BONUS: It appears to me that it is.
Ignorance is one of the determining forces limiting our freedom. It is not just that we are not fully aware to all the options, sometimes we choose to ignore some options or discount them by blinding ourselves to them. Perhaps Walden and Plato are talking more about when people limit themselves based on their beliefs. The key to achieving the greater reality and freedom Thoreau speaks of is to free yourself from limitations brought on by things religion and doubt that may limit people's potential and/or completely dismiss and disregard things.
Freedom is a really just a fancy world that describes a concept that probably isn't really real. When we are discussing freedom often questions of government control as well as the fact that for every action there is an opposite yet equal reaction that is the discourse of humanity. We "are free" to choose to act and suffer the consequences for it. Isn't freedom supposed to be sovereignty even though when we discuss sovereignty it becomes abundantly clear that as a result of law, government, and other contributing factors we are truly just denying inevitably that those things are there. So is there truly freedom or is the fantasy of freedom just so overwhelming. Anarchy is the idea of true sovereignty so that is what the face of true freedom is, but true freedom amounts to chaos which will inevitably lead to a new system which counteracts what true freedom is. So is there a way to transcend to a higher level of freedom? The answer I believe is no.
I agree that if you only know about Option a and b and not the other options, you'll never be able to know the entire extent of what you're deciding. Not kowing definitely hinders our decisions. We are stuck in the matrix. Once we open our minds and selves and focus on the outer reality can we choose fully.
-Kaitlyn P.
I agree that ignorance is one of the determining forces limiting our freedom also. I think sometimes we don't always want to know all of our options. We know there are more, but we don't want to know what they are. I think we all make choices and based off of those choices determines how "free" we really are. We limit ourselves to our own freedoms because of our comfort levels and knowledge of what is going on around us. If we increase our knowledge and decide we want to know what are other options are we are giving ourselves more freedom than what we were allowing ourselves to have before.
If it can be determined through deductive reasoning that the options one has before him are most likely the only choices that exist then the individual makes a fully free choice. If an individual does not approve of the options given to him/her is it acceptable to make no decision until a favorable option is presented? Walden is the story of an individual running away from options presented to him in search of better options. Eventually he will have to stop running and that's when he will finally have to make a decision that may not be the most favorable to him
nathan
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