Modern “Freedom” Means Being a Slave to Impulses

gavanwilhite wrote: post #4

While an interesting topic, the author needs to tone down the sexism before it seems like it deserves a place on HackerNews

What sexism specifically?

Re: Modern “Freedom” Means Being a Slave to Impulses

#7

Post by prutschman » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 7:21 PM UTC

Who is more free:

1) An average man who is only not a drug addict because he lives in a country where drugs are regulated or shamed in a way to make them hard to obtain.

2) An average man who succumbs to addiction in such a country, and is now in a never-ending cycle in and out of prison and living on the street and at daily risk of death because there's no way to ensure that the drugs he takes aren't 100x as potent as he was expecting because it's easier for the cartels to sneak the product over the border that way?

Re: Modern “Freedom” Means Being a Slave to Impulses

#8

Post by rini17 » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 7:22 PM UTC

One could get addicted to religious rituals instead. Such addiction is not entirely harmless, tends to damage relationships.

I disagree the goal of normal society is "to lead people away from lasciviousness and impulsive behavior." That is not enough to live a good life. And when we tried it, it ended up with neverending war on drugs.

Society should lead toward something. I think it should be toward a meaning. With the implicit understanding that there is no meaning in impulsive addictive behavior. Catholicism (and christianity generally) should not have a problem with that, as it is incredibly rich with meaning and it's so sad to see it all reduced to rigid morals, orders and prohibitions.

Re: Modern “Freedom” Means Being a Slave to Impulses

#9

Post by benjohnson » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 7:22 PM UTC

gavanwilhite wrote: post #4

While an interesting topic, the author needs to tone down the sexism before it seems like it deserves a place on HackerNews

If you're referring to the Christian tradition that the author brings up - it's usually men that are admonished by that tradition explicitly, because men need to hear it. Generally, it's considered that women and mothers don't need as much instruction being a later (or more fulfilled) act of creation than men.

It's also why the deceiver focused on Eve first - if she fell, Adam would surly follow.

Re: Modern “Freedom” Means Being a Slave to Impulses

#10

Post by MarkusWandel » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 7:22 PM UTC

I'm not a philosopher by trade, so I probably have this all wrong, but if we're going to be enslaved to something anyway, isn't freedom at least the ability to choose what to be enslaved by? Virtue or vice, impulses or careful planning (and the consequences of these things)... your choice, not someone else's?