Jesus in the garden is an ok example. I think it might work, but would take more thought. Worth coming back to, but I’d like a brief side-tour, if it’s ok.
One I’ve been thinking of:
A guy goes off to fight for an “Ideal”. Months later, he ends up face to face with it: He can fight and surely die (assume no guarantee of success in the battle, or even certain failure).
He can run, safely. Or he can stay, fight and die. Some just like him, do each.
Now the twist: In your view, are each “equal”? Are each making the only choice each can make? And therefore, in your view, acting on the same choice, on the same criteria (feels good), and that choice neither objectively better?
In a fashion I’m asking: A) Is it all hardwired and predetermined; B) Does either really have a “choice”?
D, the way I see it has to do with the level of certainty. Hope is a powerful feel-good biological motivator. I say biological because it appears to be irrational. When we are cornered, reason seems to break down; yet hope persists.
Going back to Jesus in the garden, we can say that in his humanity, for a brief moment, he hoped against all hopes that maybe he could avoid the unavoidable, or else he wouldn't have asked.
In the example of a man torn between fighting or running is no different than the example of a deer opting to jump into a ravine to avoid being caught by the wolves. The decision is forced, but the decisive factor is still the one that offers more "feel good," strangely as it sounds.
Is it better to be torn to pieces slowly by the wolves while still alive or being smashed against the rocks at the bottom of a ravine. Even when we choose between two evils, we pick the lesser evil, the lesser "feel-bad." Even then we pick the "best" way to go.
I think each is making the choice that is perceived as lesser evil in this case, which by necessity is greater "good."
In a fashion I’m asking: A) Is it all hardwired and predetermined; B) Does either really have a “choice”?
I would say A) yes and B) yes, except that the if we do have a choice we will pick the one that offers more hope or comfort, i.e. more "feel good."