First-person view and third-person view – From determinism

What is determinsim?

Determinism is formally defined as: For any time t, the complete state of the world at time t together with laws of nature logically entails the complete state of the world at any later time.

And it is stated by the philosopher Peter Van Inwagen that people couldn’t have done any steps given the assumption that determinsim is true:

• We are discussing about a people A doing action B.
• We are using the complete state of the world at time $T_0$, which is before the birth of A, we referred it to $P_0$. And now when we refer to the complete state of the world when A’s doing action B as P, we can logically entails P by $P_0$ and the law of nature, by the definition of determinism.
• Consider the scenario that people A instead doesn’t do action B but any other action C. In this case, it is an observable change in the complete state of the world, so the state can no longer be P, it is the people A (or action C) renders P false. However, while one cannot render the law of nature false, one can also cannot affect the world at the moment that he doesn’t even exist at time $T_0$, so they form a contradiction that the conjunction of two true statement leads to (entails) a false statement. So it is stated that people couldn’t have done anything other than the action they actually did.

It leads to the version of determinism that is easier to understand: Every action of people’s act is determined (completely fixed) by all the past events and law of nature.

The idea of different perspectives of view from determinism

From determinism, we can infer that every action we did is fixed. So our whole life routine is also fixed, as we can break it down to every actions you would, and will do – and they are all fixed. We can analogues our life to a film, which also has a one and only plot. The difference between this film and the film in the traditional sense is that you are the one and only main character.

It is also given by determinism, we can freely do whatever we want, while this action is both determined, and it won’t affect the (one and only) plot. Consider the scenario we literally do nothing, the film will still goes on, we are actually becoming the audience of the film. This won’t affect the film. It is the film that once it starts, nothing will stops it or changes it until it ends. I would rather call this audience-view as the third-person view, and the main-character-view as the first-person view. You are observing your life, how your life goes on, or how does the film goes on as the third person: even though you know the person you observing is actually you, but nothing you do will ever change anything, so you are free and welcome to become an audience, you can even assume that you are watching a person’s life, a film, that is not relevant to you. All of this action is acceptable, by determinism.

Intuitively, you can somehow always maintain the first-person view, while it’s not a wise idea to always maintain the third-person view. So we need to and can switch between them. (While it is also straightforward that the action of switching between perspectives is also acceptable under the determinsim assumption) To illustrate, the way we switch depends on if you switch to third perspective on purpose.

1. If you are switched to the third-person without purpose, which is frequent when your subconcious mind realize that you can’t bear the strong emotion you are experience while you haven’t realized yourself – (The switch to the third-person view) This is a protection by the subconcious mind. While there’re other scenarios that might lead to the switch without your will, the switch-back normally take place when you experience a complete change in the state. For example, in the case we just mention, when you have overcome or deal with the emotions successfully, you can switch back to the first-person view. Notice that the swicth-back can possibly take place without notice.
2. If you are switched to the third-person view with purpose. You notice that you are going to switch back at some moment, this should be some boundaries set by you. I would classified them into two kinds, either after a period of time , or when one specific condition is reached. While It is similar to the for loop and while loop in computer science, I suppose the latter is more natural, we are seeking for a sign that we would like to switch back to the first-person view again.

Why we need this the concepts and how do we use them

I believe the third-person view do make a difference when dealing with specific scenarios.

As what I just mention, you can act like and is actually watching a movie of a person who may doesn’t related to you at all in a third person view. This can bring us to the most naive and ideal state: It can be analogued to the state the artists and calligraphers pursue – the child state – you are observing and discovering yourself with the pure interest on a person. In order to try to overcome self-ego, using third-person view to learn yourself from the start should be attempted.

From another point of view, it can also help you adjust your instant emotions. I would try to use the third-person view when I feel nervous and I would rather not, as the negative feelings might somehow affect my perfomances. Switching to third-person view give me a sense of peace, and when I switch back to myself, I would have better state to face the upcoming challenge. For me, it is like a cheatsheet, I would definitely use first-person view to expreience the extreme happiness and joy, and use the third-person view to try to avoid the extreme negative feelings. Even though all of this is corresponding to each other, I believe I make myself the most comfort through my control on myself.