Questions and Doubts

Another Action Project in my second class, Who Am I (studying literature and philosphy), and in this class, we're fast fowarding thorugh unit 3. The study of the unit is still present, but the students all zoomed through that lesson plan. So as the third action project, to relate to the guiding question of doubt, we were assigned to create a guiding question of our own and then answer other question about that question. Sound, confusing, but wasn't really.

There was a choice between having a seven slide presentation and a 500 word essay. Naturally I felt that the essay would be easier because my voice isn't the most optimun one for recording. So as I pursued the research about pursueing my goal, I found a few things that met the criteria. As a summarization of the points made to meet, I needed to state and review the similarities between what we went over in class and my question. Then we needed to research at least two experts who shared they're thoughts on the subject, which did not mean an interview was required. I bet you wondering what I questioned and why I've made that one, well just below you can read the copy of the essay.

Thanks and enjoy.

Guiding Question; Do we really have control?

Do we really have complete control of our lives? Life can truly be mysterious. For instance, whether we have the free will to control it or not is the real mystery. Doubt is something most people have on a daily basis. People might doubt whether they should buy a coffee in the morning or make it at home before they leave. But in this case, I have doubts of whether or not humans truly have control of themselves. I am compelled to this question and it is important for me to me to pursue it because of several cases where my life has seemed as if an outer force was controlling everything that’s happened to me. This question isn’t something simple that can be answered by an internet search nor can it be answered with a few words. This question was also inspired to me by certain characters, both fictional and factual. This is a universal question because we truly have no idea if we are beings of free will or if this is a reliving of the past, or even simply the course of nature. We have seven minutes of activity left in our brains before we die, it is said that that is truly when your life flashes before your eyes, meaning that this in itself could just be a re-experience of our life in seven simple minutes.

In the movie, The Truman Show, a fictional character named Truman was unaware of his unusual life. Truman’s life, from the very beginning was a set-up. He was legally adopted so his life could become a television series. Every moment of his life was not from real control… it was preset, his fate was predestined, controlled by the TV producers.He never had to face any risks, his best friend and wife were picked for him, and so was his career. He had no control over his life, which is what I’m questioning now. However, certain mistakes in the production of the TV series (in movie), like actors found behind the set enjoying a break, lead Truman to start questioning himself. His sanity, his existence, his choices, was any of it him? But by the end of the film it was revealed to him that his life was just a show to the public.

Then there’s the philosopher, Rene Descartes, who had doubts of his very own. My question isn’t about how we may or may not have free will. It is about doubting that my actions, which are so simple, could’ve caused what (at times) happens to me. Other times I feel as if I’m being controlled by an outer force. Descartes wrote a study upon the “Discourse on the Method for Reasoning Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciences”, in which he believed that, our senses deceive us sometimes, and how god is perfect while nothing else is nor compares to perfection. Also, he said, “I think, therefore I am”, “noticing the truth so firm that all the most extravagant assumptions of the skeptics would not be able to weaken it.” The disbelief in his mind lead to reassurance as well, which can be odd in case where the focus is doubt. Descartes doubt he had full control, and in this scruple, he thought it was God that had control in his life

Two other experts have also study a case of the control we have over our lives. One of these experts is Dr. Bruce B. Abbott, Ph.D who states that, “At the heart of perceptual control theory says that us humans are super intricate machines.” Then there was Albert J. Reiss, a theorist who believed that, “...behavior consequent to the failure of personal and social controls.” However, these statements seem rather scientific and biological, but they inconsistency of choice makes things seem that it can be explained so simplistically.

Now if were to pursue this question as my career, there are plenty of risks I’d be taking. Lets say, if my life was actually being controlled by an outside force, I risk losing what I have and I’m not sure up to what lengths, whomever it may be, might do to stop me from figuring it out. However if that person is distant, then the further I try to answer the question, I may one day venture to depths of sea or space, which would risk my entire life if I were to get lost in one or the other. Should my efforts be going after something that never existed in the first place, I may live a life of paranoia and never feel relaxed because I wasn’t satisfied with finding nothing.