1 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | February 24, 2025
Will is the ability to choose for yourself. If your choices are made by social norms, then you are subordinating your will to the will of the mass, and thus it’s practically irrelevant whether you have a will or not.
What I’m teasing out is that in just about every situation where it would make a real, significant difference, *most* people subordinate themselves to social norms and in doing so functionally abandon their will.
Comment by Shield_Lyger at 25/02/2025 at 23:32 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
That's overly simplistic, especially given that people violate social norms on a daily basis. Sometimes, the best choice for an individual is in line with the norm, which, at least some of the time, is how the norm becomes broadly established in the first place.
Comment by Formless_Mind at 25/02/2025 at 19:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Will is the ability to choose for yourself. If your choices are made by social norms, then you are subordinating your will to the will of the mass, and thus it’s practically irrelevant whether you have a will or not.
I agree however you can have a will but also remembering your place in society, it isn't like some totalitarian world where you can't even have an opinion of anything
What we've to be clear is that as a human l've a will which implies agency but same time also acknowledging l fit in a broader social mass since l need my basic necessities-food,shelter,water taken care off therefore of my own choosing l make the decision to partake in society and it's rules which is wearing clothes and not causing any unlawful behaviour