Overview
Free Will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action. It is central to our concepts of moral responsibility, praise, guilt, and the law.
Core Idea
The core idea is agency. Are we the authors of our own actions, or are we just puppets acting out a script written by physics/genetics/environment?
Formal Definition
The debate centers on the compatibility of free will with Determinism (the idea that every event is caused by prior events).
- Compatibilism: Free will and determinism can coexist. (Freedom = acting according to your desires, even if those desires are determined).
- Incompatibilism: Free will and determinism cannot coexist.
- Libertarianism: We have free will, so determinism is false.
- Hard Determinism: Determinism is true, so we don’t have free will.
Intuition
- Libertarian: At a fork in the road, I could genuinely go Left or Right. The future is open.
- Determinist: My choice is the result of my brain state, which is the result of my genes + environment. I “choose,” but I couldn’t have chosen otherwise.
Examples
- Libet Experiment: Neuroscience study suggesting our brains initiate action before we are consciously aware of the decision. Used to argue against free will.
- Legal System: Punishing criminals assumes they could have done otherwise.
Common Misconceptions
- Misconception: Free will means doing whatever you want.
- Correction: It usually means having the capacity to choose, not omnipotence.
- Misconception: Quantum randomness proves free will.
- Correction: Randomness isn’t freedom. A die roll isn’t a choice. We want control, not randomness.
Related Concepts
- Determinism: The philosophy that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes.
- Moral Responsibility: The status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment.
- Fatalism: The belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable (different from determinism).
Applications
- Law: Insanity defense (did they have the capacity to choose?).
- Religion: Theological debate between Predestination (Calvinism) and Free Will (Arminianism).
Criticism and Limitations
- Illusion: Many scientists and philosophers (Sam Harris, Spinoza) argue free will is a persistent illusion created by our lack of awareness of the causes of our actions.
Further Reading
- Free Will by Sam Harris
- Elbow Room by Daniel Dennett