Freedom

Why do I do things even when I don't want to? That is, why do I waste time on the internet when I know I should be studying for exams? If I know I should be studying, why aren't I?

Comments

I would distinguish the question why you do things you should not do from the question why you do things you do not want to do. Both are interesting, but the first one seems easier to answer. It's just that sometimes you don't want to do what you should do. That may happen for various reasons. Maybe you don't know what you should do or maybe what you should do involves helping other people but you are selfish. And even if you recognise that there is something you should do for your own good you may just not want to do it. I know that I should floss every day, but I don't do it because I don't want to.

The second question is harder to answer. How can you do something you don't want to do? Of course maybe someone is forcing you to do it, but that is not what you have in mind. Nobody is keeping me from flossing, and suppose now that I really do want to floss, because I really do want to take care of my teeth, but still I don't do it. This is weakness of the will. The obvious way to try to explain how this is possible is to say that although I really do want to floss, I also really want not to floss (it's a pain), and my desire not to floss is just stronger than to desire to floss.

So we can explain why we sometimes don't do X even though we want to do X by saying that we also want not to do X, and that want is stronger and so wins out. But if you want to press this line of questioning, you could ask whether there aren't also cases of conflicting desires where we actually do the thing we want less. If so, then we still have a problem seeing how doing what you don't want is possible.

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