And let’s assume that instead of forcing our actions with free will, everything we do is based on our previous experiences.
Those previous experiences are based on our previous-previous experiences. And so on.
And those early previous experiences when we were born and had no previous experiences?
Those were based on the previous experiences of our parents, and our surroundings. And so on.
If everything we do is guided by what happened before, this has some implications for changing habits and behaviours.
Because the success of these changes doesn’t come down to our resilience, grit or whatever. It comes down to what came before.
And if we’re not lucky enough to have the resilience, grit or whatever from our previous experiences, at what point do we accept that maybe these changes we’re trying to achieve are not going to work?
Maybe our previous experiences mean that we’re stuck. We can’t free will our way through.
On the upside, not having free will would mean that we can be much more forgiving to ourselves (and others) when things don’t go the way we want them to.
It also reinforces the case against any cookie-cutter approach to behavioural change.
What am I missing here? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
-J
ps. This is just one of the questions I have reading Determined: Life Without Free Will by Robert Sapolsky.