Context
What if there is in fact a genetic basis for a sense of chosenness among human beings?”
I think this is the case for most things in religion. A prime example is the idea of the “soul”, which seems common to virtually all religions, and is based on the erroneous idea that human beings are not their bodies. Of course, if you are not “really” your body, just a soul, then it becomes hard to tell races and sexes apart, since race is a biological concept, as is sex. Thus, much confusion has at its start this erroneous premise. On the other hand, this delusion is so persistent and deep, and so cross-cultural, we can’t attribute it to any one religion. It appears to be hard-wired; a necessary false idea.
This misconception of the self as an entity apart from one’s body leads directly to another erroneous idea, the universal impression that the human will is free, not dependent or driven by causality. Modern science tends to say no to this, though there are some holdouts who try to find free will in quantum theory. To me, this seems a dubious line of reasoning, since quantum theory also applies to trees and rocks, and yet nobody thinks they have free will; and also motions due to random chance are not controllable, which it seems would be required in order for the theory to intersect with the idea of free will. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine what human society would look like if humans were not possessed of these erroneous ideas, and it seems obvious that evolution must have favored those who had them. Who can question that a man is in complete control of his own actions, and must be responsible for them? The very structure of society depends on it. Life itself is based on illusions such as these; they permeate our thinking thoroughly, whether we like it or not.
This is an interesting post, but you have not asked a question, which is what we usually expect on this English forum.
Did you have a question about what you wrote? Or not?
(Either way is OK.)
CJ
You should put your question in the body of your post even if it means repeating the subject line. I suppose your question is "What does 'free will' mean?" Free will is one of the basic philosophical points. Do we decide what we do (we have free will), or is what we do determined by external forces (we do not have free will)? In religion, that becomes the question of whether an omnipotent God controls our every move or has granted us the ability to decide for ourselves.
CJ
This is a post from another forum- https://www.unz.com/gatzmon/on-chosen-mess/?showcomments