Willpower, The Will and Power
A lot of credit is given to 19th century philosopher Frederich Nietzsche although this credit belongs to his teacher, Arthur Schopenhauer. Nietzsche is certainly creditable for timeless catchphrases like, "God is dead." which was uttered in an overheard conversation by a traveler in {u}Thus Spoke Zarathustra{/u}. He is also famous for the title of one book in particular which is also catchy and timeless: {u}The Will to Power.{/u}
His books are full of platitudes and short disjointed thoughts. His fame will never wane, but his ideas are already lost. Schopenhauer impacted both Nietzsche and the entirety of academia at the time. His influence and ideas have been long lasting. His primary work, {u}The World as Will and Representation{/u} espouses his idea of the will, the will to which Nietzsche refers to in his catchy book title.
According to recent psychology research, willpower is a figment of the imagination and the very belief in willpower (even when only suggested pre-experiment) reduces your ability to work and depletes your general level of energy after completing tasks.
https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower
According to this, willpower is an excuse that drug addicts use to justify their addictions.
Schopenhauer's theory of the will strongly rests on a materialist interpretation of reality. This interpretation of reality has been upended by physicists and the field of quantum physics, but it's influence remains. Quantum physics fails to make predictions as well as the classical physicists, but it does allow for free will to exist by positing alternative futures, even alternate universes, rather than a single future determined by the laws of physics. Many classical physicists promoted for a time a philosophy termed materialism which promoted that very theory. Schopenhauer ideas remain powerful because it is undeniable the power of physics, the power that physics has over our lives, and our absolute enslavement to physics.
Denying the reality of physics is truly imbecilic. I've seen someone do it in a Jeff Berwick podcast and he didn't call him out. I would have. I really doubt the building just added a story and your friend and you both saw it so it must be true....
Dumbass. Everything else you said just became meaningless after you said that. That's that power of Schopenhauer's ideas. You simply can't deny the power of physics and people who study physics and understand it well are more likely to become successful.
The philosophical question remains: is there a free will? and the personal one: Why can't I give up harmful addictions?
Quantum physics really has revolutionized philosophy and ended the era of the materialists. The physics of the brain is not fully understood and if there is a truly free will, it exists in the mind and then has some connection to the brain. Our so called "free-will" is severely limited and if "willpower" is not a helpful concept, I suggest rather we use "disposition of will" as a means of referring to our goals.
A disposition can be personal or it can be societal. When a person is addicted to a drug, their disposition to toward that drug, whether they like it or not. They are chemically addicted and it will be difficult to stop. I think the best way to cure an addiction is a distraction. You need to distract yourself from your habit until you can form a new disposition. Find something to do. I do recommend taking up as I have a habit of life-long learning. Leaving the education system leaves many feeling nauseated toward learning because the system does a poor job educating people or doing anything to make them passionate thinkers. Here we all know that. Fight back and educate yourself. Comprehension may be the best tool of the will. The more comprehension you have of the world and of yourself, the more you will be able to influence yourself, others, and things in a positive way.
Does having money and influence increase the power of your will? It seems to. People who have access to a great deal of resources can accomplish more than people who don't have many resources. What about the nature of power in politics? There is no doubt that at the highest levels, politicians will resort to outright murder of their opponents when other tactics fail. People willing to "do what it takes" might be promoted to a certain position, but their lives are diminished and they serve someone else. These ""devil tactics" don't represent true power and political offices are warrantlessly coveted. True power comes from the ownership of what Marx refers to as "the means of production" or to put even more simply factories.
It's true we are ruled over and un-free in a deeply meaningful way. The capacity of states to use the laws of physics against us is great. Counter-intelligence and propaganda is rampant. Easy answers get a lot more views than challenges to do better and to be better. Is the apparatus of the state so entrenched to become like the laws of physics?