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What an interesting title for this chapter! "Do Whatever You Want"...
What does he mean by writing this? From the very first impression it sounds a bit liberal, doesn't it?
What does this idea mean to us? That's the question, I would say...
It is important to remember that when he talks about doing whatever we want, he means that we are free to choose and, as a consequence, we can choose to do whatever we want...
But, what does "freedom" mean then? Well, we don't have to forget that freedom is not only being able to decide but also being aware of what you are deciding, which is, by the way, not an easy task at all...
When we talk about decisions, we don't have to avoid thinking about the orders, habits and whims that make us act in a certain way at a certain situation... But we have to remember that these "influences" are just one aspect of the complicated art of taking decisions...
As time goes by, we grow older and we do not have to do what our parents want us to do... or we may move to another place, completely different from ours, and suddenly we find us having to face a radical change in our habits... so, are orders, habits and whims valid for taking all our decisions? How are we going to take such decisions without being told what to do or without having our typical habits?
What a question! "How are we going to take our decisions if we are not told what is expected from us in order to be able to live our lives in the best way possible (i.e. being a good person)?"
At this point we may have no answers for this question, but at least we have the question "What is it to be a good person, a good human being?" (Let me tell you that this is a perfect beginning! We have found us asking a key question in Ethics!)
Of course that each of us will find many different answers for this huge question... but we have to be patient... Finding this answer is a long-life process...
Choices, Choices and Choices...
Isn't life about making decisions?
Now the question will be not only to be aware of the fact that we are free to make choices (of course with some limitations as there are certain things that we do not choose)... but also we may came up with this question: Which is our motivation to make such decisions?
Why do I get up in the morning and go to the teachers' training collage? Why do I choose to get up and not to stay in bed and sleep all the hours I would like to? Why do I brush my teeth instead of going out without doing it?
Well, by answering all these questions we will be finding out why we do certain things and not others...
Furthermore, do we do them because we have to do them? because we are used to doing them? or because we want to? Is our motivation an order? a habit? or just a whim?
However, all this issue is not the most important thing to pay attention to while reading Savater's beautiful chapter II because when we come to think about this kind of decisions (motivated by an order, a habit or a whim) we find that they are not enough for us to make those important and difficult decisions that take us to Ethics...
If we know that someone is used to stealing and he/she does it frequently, will that be right (ethically speaking) just because it is a habit?
If someone is obliged to kill another person just because a person over him tells him to do it, will that be right (ethically speaking) just because it is an order?
Are you sure now that everything you do is a consequence of your own decision? Or you just act because you are "programmed" to do so (programmed by yourself: a whim or programmed by some else: an order or a habit)?
Why have you done that and not something else?
Not only the decision but also the REASON WHY WE MAKE SUCH DECISION IS OURS...
What about Ethics?
It can be said that it is the field in which the human being spends his time thinking about what is actually relevant for him in order to achieve a "good" life...
But now the question is, what is a "good" life? Well, let me tell you that this huge question hasn't got just one single answer... Why? Simply because we are all different... and, since we have different views on what is good or bad for us, we will have, as a consequence, many different views on what is a "good" life...
There are two main concepts that will help us to understand this issue better: Freedom and Choice (which are, by the way, very connected concepts since in order to be able to make any Choice we will need to have the Freedom to do it).
In his book, as usual, Savater gives us a very clear example to understand the relation between this words and our "good" lives. He makes a connection between our decisions and that ones made by animals: the idea is that animals are naturally programmed to behave in a certain way; but what about we, human beings? Are we programmed by someone? or Are we free to make our own choices?
Let's think about us in our daily lives. When we are asked to do something, don't we have the opportunity of refusing to do it? Yes! Of course we can say No (no matter whether we will have to face any consequence after saying no, the fact is that we are free to choose).
Furthermore, there is one more thing to say here; we don't have to forget that we are not (always) able to choose what is going to happen to us but, on the other hand, we can choose how to react to it...
To sum up, let me tell you that I really now that all this issue of having the responsibility of being the ones who can change our own lives is not an easy task at all... but, after all, everything is in our hands...THE DECISION IS OURS... Which is going to be your next choice?...
