[NON BLOG] Free Will for Late Moderns
Nov. 23rd, 2005 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe conversation began after I unpacked a copy of Richard Rhodes' Why They Kill: the Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist. That provocative book examines the theories of one Lonnie Athens, a criminologist who argued that violent people were socialized to be violent via a four-step process.
Talk of this book segued naturally enough into a discussion of how, in a late modern era that placed a priority on personal freedom and individual self-determination, people have let themselves by dominated completely by their life histories, exhausting their potential for change and giving up. "It's tragic when someone expects that nothing good will happen to them, and the other side of the coin when someone else expects that something good will happen to them if they wait."
It comes down to choice, really.
Talk of this book segued naturally enough into a discussion of how, in a late modern era that placed a priority on personal freedom and individual self-determination, people have let themselves by dominated completely by their life histories, exhausting their potential for change and giving up. "It's tragic when someone expects that nothing good will happen to them, and the other side of the coin when someone else expects that something good will happen to them if they wait."
It comes down to choice, really.
