BELIEFS BEYOND CONTROL: ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ACTIONS IN A WORLD SHAPED BY EXTERNAL FORCES
Received: 10th August 2024 Revised: 19th August 2024, 2nd September 2024 Accepted: 13th August 2024
Keywords:
Beliefs, Actions, External Forces, AccountabilityAbstract
This article researched on whether people should be accountable for their beliefs. Culture, religion, environment, and mental health are factors wholly outside of one’s control to develop beliefs; therefore, holding people blameworthy for their beliefs is problematic. To this end, one's cultural upbringing seems to shape beliefs unconsciously from an early age. Environmental factors, which may include media and propaganda, go further to shape beliefs through the constant exposure to messages to which may result in the adoption of ideas they would otherwise not have had. Mental health conditions, such as depression and bipolar disorders, distort a person's thinking about oneself and the world. These factors can thus mean that belief is essentially a product of external forces, and did not spring from personal will. From this perspective, holding an individual responsible for his or her beliefs may create some undue prejudices, given that belief formation is a complex process, stemming from both objective and subjective inputs.On the other hand, it is easier for society to judge a person by the actions the person takes, rather than by the beliefs a person inherits or is influenced to align with which are beyond the person’s control. Although beliefs can motivate behavior, the final decision to take or not take the action is the responsibility of the individual. These actions are directly linked to an impact to the society. The individual deserves consequences from the resulted impact. This is a more accurate judgement rather than one based on the subjective impulses and motivations which triggered the actions to happen. This distinction is crucial in displaying fairness and not prejudice. In a world shaped by many external forces, beliefs beyond a person’s control should not be used to punish the person. People should be held accountable for actions rather than beliefs.
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