The Promised Reflection
The Limitations of Personal Responsibility.
I believe that we, as human beings, have free will. However, I also believe that we never do choices in a vacuum, that there are other influences, such as context (environment, community, family), and the assessment (or lack of it) of the consequences and implications of our choices, just to mention two.
Like me, the author is not deterministic by any means. The key is to understand up to what point we have the ability to change our lives, and to look at the system that allows, limits or forbid our choices.
As a social worker, it is important for me to analyze the problems of my clients both in a personal and social (and sometimes political or systematic) context, whether I am counseling, or assessing a community as a whole. I am a great believer that the choices we make are either as a compliance or as a reaction to the context we live in. It is dangerous, however, to use the limitations of personal responsibility to blame our life to circumstances. But when we want to change our surrounding circumstances, we make a choice as a reaction. However, we do need an assessment and to what pint is that change possible, or how long will it take to make such a change.
I am interested in reading your different observations about the issue. My reflection here is not complete. I think I need to give more thought about this one, but I am just giving the raw material of my thoughts.
I believe that we, as human beings, have free will. However, I also believe that we never do choices in a vacuum, that there are other influences, such as context (environment, community, family), and the assessment (or lack of it) of the consequences and implications of our choices, just to mention two.
Like me, the author is not deterministic by any means. The key is to understand up to what point we have the ability to change our lives, and to look at the system that allows, limits or forbid our choices.
As a social worker, it is important for me to analyze the problems of my clients both in a personal and social (and sometimes political or systematic) context, whether I am counseling, or assessing a community as a whole. I am a great believer that the choices we make are either as a compliance or as a reaction to the context we live in. It is dangerous, however, to use the limitations of personal responsibility to blame our life to circumstances. But when we want to change our surrounding circumstances, we make a choice as a reaction. However, we do need an assessment and to what pint is that change possible, or how long will it take to make such a change.
I am interested in reading your different observations about the issue. My reflection here is not complete. I think I need to give more thought about this one, but I am just giving the raw material of my thoughts.