Isaiah Berlin, one of my favorite philosophers of all time, explains human freedom, through tracing the teleological and deontological history of philosophy. In the end he exclaims that science don't provide any goal. Somewhere it is human's determination which decide the authenticity of our life. We are extremely malleable. But, at the same time we have capacity to choose between just and unjust. This capacity to exercise a choice which is just or unjust makes us humans. As Huxley or Darwin expounds about human nature where a weak is crushed by a mighty creature. In that sense, nature don't have any moral content. But humans are capable to think about weak and strong at the same time. This unique capacity is a bulwark to ensure freedom. This notion is purely Kantian, which supports human dignity and human agency over teleological or theological determinism. Somewhere Stoics and existentialists like Sartre agree with this line of thinking. Human agency in today's world has disappeared unfortunately. We choose not out of volition but because society tends to think in that way. We in fact don't choose. We follow mechanically as if a machine has already been pre-programmed. Human nature has lost its characteristic to decide the moral contents valuable and respect-worthy for human dignity. That is a point of reference which perhaps has affected human's consciousness. We think that we are superior creature, someone who is capable to disturb the harmony. We have a unique capacity to make the nature plaything and in a way destroy what has been hitherto beautiful and full of wonders. This is not meant for human freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility as someone rightly said. Today there are all too freedom but where is justice? Where does lie the responsibility to think beyond the horizon of triviality? Only self interest runs in a robotic world where human agency is rhetorically claimed but in fact agency is no more. Everything is mysteriously submerged in tune of consumption and destruction. Life is not an end but process. But process itself has become boring and burdensome.
Student: I want to excel in my life. Over the years, my graph of success is achieving a new height. I am doing hard work to become one of the smartest and richest persons on the Earth. Teacher: Wonderful! Who is achiever and what is achieved? Student: I am the achiever. My name and fame are shining day by day. Teacher: Who is this ‘I’? What is the material by which it is produced? Student: I is the ego which is the agent achieving successes and facing failures. Teacher: Whether ego is real or imaginary? Student: It is made of name, form, and function. Teacher: Whether name, form, and function are eternal? Student: No, they are changing. Teacher: Anything changes does it exist? Whether these are real or merely fictitious images appearing and disappearing before the sightscreen of mind? Student: They are the images constructing my identity as a person. Teacher: Well said! What is the stuff by which these images are made of? Who is maker and what is made? Student: They ar...
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