Is there a reason for everything we do?

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Is there a reason or cause for everything we do?

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cause, probably. for instance, nerve impulses from the brain cause contractions in muscles that move fingers causing this sentence to be typed on my keyboard. on the other hand, reason suggests something conscious, and i'm not sure i can claim that i consciously control the motions my fingers make while typing, for example.

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Do you mean why do we work?Or why do we breath?

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a little postscript to what i wrote: if i wasn't a touch typist, i *might* be consciously controlling my finger as i type one letter at a time. Laughing

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Well, for example, what causes school children to bully (or harass or whatever you want to call it) others?

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aperson wrote:

Well, for example, what causes school children to bully (or harass or whatever you want to call it) others?

That would depend on the individual. With some people it is a matter of learned behavior (what has been seen and inflicted upon them at home) and with others it seems to be a natural trait with them from birth. With some it is a calling out for attention...good attention, bad attention it does not matter, the person just wants/needs to be acknowledged. At times it is peer pressure, wherein an individual teases or physically assaults another child in order to be accepted into a supposedly cool group. As indicated each person is different.

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Sturgis wrote:

aperson wrote:
Well, for example, what causes school children to bully (or harass or whatever you want to call it) others?
That would depend on the individual. With some people it is a matter of learned behavior (what has been seen and inflicted upon them at home) and with others it seems to be a natural trait with them from birth. With some it is a calling out for attention...good attention, bad attention it does not matter, the person just wants/needs to be acknowledged. At times it is peer pressure, wherein an individual teases or physically assaults another child in order to be accepted into a supposedly cool group. As indicated each person is different.

where do the facts in this analysis come from?

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snood wrote:

Sturgis wrote:
aperson wrote:
Well, for example, what causes school children to bully (or harass or whatever you want to call it) others?
That would depend on the individual. With some people it is a matter of learned behavior (what has been seen and inflicted upon them at home) and with others it seems to be a natural trait with them from birth. With some it is a calling out for attention...good attention, bad attention it does not matter, the person just wants/needs to be acknowledged. At times it is peer pressure, wherein an individual teases or physically assaults another child in order to be accepted into a supposedly cool group. As indicated each person is different.

where do the facts in this analysis come from?

Life experience. Over time I have seen enough young people who were seemingly incorrigible from the start even with a fine home life and I have also observed those who have turned bad as the encouragement from those around them as prodded them forth onto a path of bullying and troublemaking. Everybody is who they are and each person dances upon the floor created by others. An individual's footwork has to start somewhere and with some it is a matter of following the footprints left by predecessors (developing into a troublemaker) whereas with others it is creating new steps all on ones own (as in troublemaking from the start).

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How about 'Everythin' ahhhhh do, ahhh doo it foooor yooou'

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Sturgis wrote:

aperson wrote:
Well, for example, what causes school children to bully (or harass or whatever you want to call it) others?
That would depend on the individual. With some people it is a matter of learned behavior (what has been seen and inflicted upon them at home) and with others it seems to be a natural trait with them from birth.

that's the nature vs. nurture controversy, and i agree with your line of thinking. when it comes to human behavior, it's usually a combination of the two, rather than exclusively environment or heredity. sometimes, it's claimed that one factor is predominant; for instance, there's the controversial claim that IQ is 80% hereditary. whatever the merits of such generalizations, it's troubling that there's no room for free will, if your behavior is *caused* either by the environment or by your genes. i believe human beings have free will, but there's no proof of free will that i'm aware of.