Posted: Mar 15, 2014 12:52 am
Philosofer123 wrote:Deremensis wrote:I too am curious how a lack of free will renders irrational a number of negative emotions. If they weren't irrational with free will, what makes them irrational without it? It seems almost like a lack of free will makes a number of emotions far more viable - after all, if something is ultimately not in your control, then how you feel about it is also, ultimately, not in your control.
Most (if not all) emotions have a cognitive basis. This is the underlying premise of CBT/REBT, which has been shown to be effective in treating a wide range of psychological ailments. When the cognitive basis for an emotion is eliminated, the emotion is rendered irrational. And realizing that a particular emotion is irrational helps one to reduce or eliminate that emotion.
Take resentment. In order to rationally resent someone for a particular action, you must believe that that person is truly responsible for that action. But the regress argument for free will impossibilism (see page 3) demonstrates that no one can be truly responsible for any action. As a result, the cognitive basis for resentment is eliminated.
In the same way, free will impossibilism renders irrational such emotions as regret, guilt, remorse, shame, anger, hatred, contempt, disgust, indignation and outrage.
A number of techniques in my document for eliminating negative emotions work in this manner (see pages 7-11).
I dunno. I'm not gonna try to take a philosophical stand against this, just because it's not a discussion I'm particularly interested in having at this particular moment (though, perhaps another day). But how does one deal, in this situation, with those negative emotions? Because there's some situations which seriously warrant regret, guilt, remorse, shame, et cetera - and, arguably, the presence of those emotions is a good way to handle some situations and teach good vs bad behaviours.