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Between the Absurdities of "I Create My Own Reality" and "You Are Determined"

. . . is the reality of our existence

Douglas Giles, PhD
12 min readFeb 9, 2025
Avoid being tangled in dogmatic underbrush and take the true middle path (a real image produced by a human being: me!)

Many arguments are pointless. Is the Earth round or flat? Pointless argument — the answer is clear and has been clear for millennia. Do human beings have free will or are they determined? Also a pointless argument — the answer is clear and has been clear for millennia.

People fall into pointless arguments for several reasons. Usually because their ego and preconceptions get in the way of their critical thinking. Even when ego isn’t involved, sadly, most people choose to be lazy thinkers, accepting simplistic answers. Some people use pointless arguments to push an ideology and dominate other people. The pointless argument of free will versus determinism is perpetuated by all of those causes.

The good news is that clear critical thinking dissolves the argument fairly quickly. To begin, let’s clear up the issue by looking at the two extremes of the argument: determinism and “you create your own reality.”

(Source: Piqsels)

Determinism

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Douglas Giles, PhD
Douglas Giles, PhD

Written by Douglas Giles, PhD

Philosopher by trade & temperament, professor for 21 years, bringing philosophy out of its ivory tower and into everyday life. https://dgilesauthor.com/

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