What is a person's potential to change?

[★LunaLight★]

This question was provoked from a discussion about loyalty. It is considered a positive trait to stick to your friends and family, no matter how much they may change. However I've started considering this statement was made, with the assumption that there is only a certain degree that a person can change themselves. At this day and age, for the right price you could become an entirely different person, to the point you could not be recognized. Has the standard of loyalty changed? Is it possible that with a new age, people are able to change more than just their outward appearance and other small details, but the entirety of who they are? (this is just an intro, every question here is rhetorical)

What I want to talk about is:

What do you think a person can not change about themselves?

How much does someone have to change, or in what ways does someone have to change for them to become 'a different person'?

If your son/daughter were to experiement with activities that you found controversial(not affecting their physical health negatively or others around them), would you try to stop them and how would you go about doing it?(please use examples, but do not debate the example itself)

[Valcherion]

What do you think a person can not change about themselves?

A person can never change; only his/her opinions can [inb4lolsexchange]. What I mean is, for example, if someone was a stubborn deist, who then finds that atheism is a lot more appealing to him/her, then s/he will also be a stubborn atheist. The type of person s/he was didn't change, only his/her views.

How much does someone have to change, or in what ways does someone have to change for them to become 'a different person'?

If their views change to the extent of them doing a complete or partial about-face from what they thought of the world.

If your son/daughter were to experiement with activities that you found controversial(not affecting their physical health negatively), would you try to stop them and how would you go about doing it?

It's so obvious that this is about homosexuality, considering your little side note, but, sure, let's go to another extreme and get about answering the question that way.

For example, my son/daughter were to experiment with serial murder. It is not harming to them physically, considering s/he would probably pick off people who are generally weaker or has some kind of psychological fault s/he can then exploit to further strengthen his/her position as the killer.

However, I would still stop him/her, seeing as

1) It is harmful to another person

2) It is morally reprehensible

3) It is a complete waste of time, with no measurable benefit for either him/her, the person s/he is killing, to me, or to society as a whole.

How would I stop it? First off, I'll try to dissuade him/her from doing it again [that's daddy's job].

If s/he doesn't listen, and tries to threaten me in response, then s/he's dead. No questions asked.

[PaladinFoster]

A person's past is all that can not be changed about them(usually). No matter how they change, the memory of who they once were remains. Except in the case of an extremely rare form of amnesia in which the sufferer recalls nothing since before the event which caused said amnesia. It's the kind most often portrayed in movies and television, yet the rarest form in real life.

Amnesia aside, pretty much everything can be changed about a person given the proper circumstances, except the memory of what they once were like.

[★LunaLight★]

A person can never change; only his/her opinions can [inb4lolsexchange]. What I mean is, for example, if someone was a stubborn deist, who then finds that atheism is a lot more appealing to him/her, then s/he will also be a stubborn atheist. The type of person s/he was didn't change, only his/her views.



If their views change to the extent of them doing a complete or partial about-face from what they thought of the world.



It's so obvious that this is about homosexuality, considering your little side note.

This wasn't just about that(I assumed people would take it that direction though). What if your kid wanted to join some strange new religion you weren't comfortable with? What if they took an interest in some strange fetish? What if they became a brony? There is a lot more than sexuality that a person can come to believe is an aspect of themselves.

[Valcherion]

Yeah, but, you made a move to preempt that... using an example which will inevitably take it that way. Anyway, that's besides the point. The example provided should give some light to my answer in regards to that third question.

[Zvezda]

What do you think a person can not change about themselves?

A person cannot change their history, that is the only thing they cannot change. Who they were is forever. What they will be is anyone's guess.

How much does someone have to change, or in what ways does someone have to change for them to become 'a different person'?

I could really be different as soon as I decided broccoli was no longer tasty. Really. I don't believe there is any philosophical answer to this, because, 'change' isn't defined here as anything but what it... already is? Yea. You change... You change.

If your son/daughter were to experiement with activities that you found controversial(not affecting their physical health negatively or others around them), would you try to stop them and how would you go about doing it?(please use examples, but do not debate the example itself)

So long as it didn't ultimately hurt them or anyone else in any way, I don't think I would be too concerned about it. I'll always be wary, and I might try to talk them out of it if I don't like it, but I'll never thrust my views into them. History has shown that times will change, and so will customs. What my grandmother thought was unacceptable then is completely fine now. It will be the same for my descendants.

[Dudel]

A person does not change... only your view of that person does. There is a lot that people keep hidden from others. Wants, desires, or simple curiosities. Things that they might fear either personally, what these things mean to themselves, or because of what it means to others.

Eventually, however, people will give in to these hidden urges... and their inner self will be shown to you.

If you have a trouble accepting this part of the person, do not blame them for anything other than their new found honesty.

[mdk]

Is it weird to think that every person's capacity for change is unique? Maybe even the capacity for change is, itself, changing?

In general though

What do you think a person can not change about themselves?

Well for starters, family is always family. Period. That is one constant that cannot be altered no matter what happens. Blood is thicker than water, yadda yadda.... point is don't welsh on your family because today you're a metal-head and the other metal heads don't like your sister. That's some bullshit. Vice, if your sister becomes a metal head and you don't like metal heads, you better still stand up for your sister.

How much does someone have to change, or in what ways does someone have to change for them to become 'a different person'?

A lot of people have defining physical features.... Let's say I've always had a mohawk all my life. One day I shave off the mohawk, and people notice that my nose is like freakishly big. Did my nose change? No. But because my hair changed, you see my whole face differently and you notice different things about me. Same thing goes for personality... it's not a single feature. To really change completely, you'd have to -- well, change completely, everything, all that you are and all you do. That... never happens. But small changes in self can trigger larger changes in other peoples' perspective -- it's an illusion, but then again, so was their previous perspective, and so will be their future one.

If your son/daughter were to experiement with activities that you found controversial(not affecting their physical health negatively or others around them), would you try to stop them and how would you go about doing it?(please use examples, but do not debate the example itself)

Let's make it as extreme as possible... let's say my daughter wants to assassinate the president of the united states.

Of course I'm going to stop her. She wants to kill the president! Granted, she clearly doesn't think that's a bad idea right now, but I know she's going to regret this decision when she's serving consecutive life sentences. Maybe I've been in jail before and she hasn't -- maybe I know what it's like to have someone's blood on your hands, and she can't comprehend that idea because she's never killed anyone before. Whatever. Point is there are times when I really do know better than she does, whether that fact pleases her or not. And if I think I need to, then I'll do what it takes to prevent her from making a terrible mistake.


...okay, but what if it wasn't killing the president? Well, who knows then. Everyone has their priorities. What really matters is that even if I beg and plead, if my daughter runs off and shoots Obama in the face, she's still my daughter and I visit her in jail all the time. Even if she hates me for trying to stop her, she's still my daughter. Even if I'm wrong, and the president really DID need to die, she's still my daughter.

[Ruby]

Psychologically speaking? Who the hell knows.

[Scribz]

Nature vs. Nurture argument.

I actually a cover a shit load of this in my gay ass guide so lemme just go get some quotes from it to refer to.