If everything is bound to happen (determinism) than can we morally be held responsible for our actions?

Question

Determinism states that we are living in a massive chain of events so everything we do is influenced by external events. It means we have no free will, we are intended to do every action, they have been caused. So do we have free will? Are we responsible?

Answer 1

We are responsible for our reactions to external forces and responsible for that which we influence/ed.

Answer 2

We are responsible for everything that occurs, something is bound to happen simply because based on our actions we chose to allow it to happen.

Answer 3

Are dates and figs the same thing?  What do you mean ``NO``, they are both fruits and they are both edible, so they must be the same.

People often like to mix ideas and scales of ideas just for the fun of initiating discussion.  Maybe they are lonely, so that is fine, but don`t expect these ruminations to produce any meaningful results.

The answer to all three of your questions is ``yes and no``.

Furthermore both of the statements either are or can be true depending on other factors.

So as you can see there is in this ``question?``  an entire tree of thoughts, trunk, branches, roots, leaves, and even some fruit.  

Briefly, the law of attraction states ``That which is like.....unto itself is drawn``.  This means that on the scale of energy (vibrational), the energy which creates everything from that level or another is attracted to the same energy (same vibrational rate or speed)  and when this ``grouping`` of energy gets dense enough, the corresponding creation is duplicated.

On the scale of thoughts, a same thought is created.  Therefore when there begins to exist many thoughts of the same sort in one`s mind, emotions are triggered which then cause the endocrine system to produce chemicals which in turn produce sensations in the body, which we then in turn call moods.  Then of course one`s moods continue the cycle by influencing others who are in contact with us and the whole process continues, therefore you are right when you say there is a chain of events and that we are influenced by those same events, but......

But one needs to be ìn `contact` with same or they can have no effect.

That is the saving grace and also the point where ``free will`` CAN enter into the picture.  If one is going along willy nilly without `awareness` of one`s possibilities and without awareness of the current situation (ie. moods), then there is apparently no free will.  IF on the other hand one IS aware, then one can exercise free will and deliberately change the vibrational frequency extant on whatever level we choose, sometimes referred to by esoteric writers as ``effortless efforts`` and these produce miracles.  They are miracles from the point of view of those with no idea of the above process or of those who have been programmed to resist anything but a certain false party line of thought.  From the point of view of another section of humanity, some of whom have searched for the meaning of life and been lucky or from the point of view of those who have NOT been programmed after birth into invalid thoughts repeated to them until they became their beliefs (yet another example of vibrational energy replicating itself), then, they do not find that there are any such miracles in existence.  To the latter, it is simple and there doesn`t exist a question here.  They are simply bipping along enjoying a very successful life and no matter what others do to prevent them from being happy and successful, it always works out well for them in a very short time.  Of this outcome, they never have any doubts, and that is one of the keys to their path of joy.

Sorry for the length of my post, but you asked for it with multiple questions which all fit together.  Also some ideas are simply longer than others and may require one or two re-reads.  Cheers!

Answer 4

one must not mix philosophies methinks

like determinism with fatalism

please refer to Wekipedia URL below

Answer 5

What do you do if your toaster breaks?  You fix it or dispose of it.  It doesn't matter if the toaster didn't CHOOSE to break.  It will still suffer the consequences of not being useful.

Why should it be any different for society even if the strictest forms of determinism are true?  If a person is causing problems, you either fix them or get rid of them.  It is no different from what we already do.

Whether you choose to see that as 'being responsible for their behaviour' or 'a determined outcome of their disharmonious system' is just spin.