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The concept of Free Will

December 24, 2010

Featured Content, Philosophy

It’s very likely that most people think that we’re free in what we want, what we want to do, what we want to think or say, or where we want to go. Depending on how you view free will, that’s true. Or not.

There are a few philosophical positions on the matter of free will. I will discuss the two main positions: “libertarianism” and “determinism”.

Let’s start with determinism first, shall we?

Determinism

The theory of determinism suggests that every type of event (including human cognition) has been determined by previous events. Those two events would have a “causal” relationship.

Consider conditioning.

Last week*, I heard a certain song on tv. Instantly, I got a huge craving for a certain type of cookies. What I didn’t know at that moment, is that that song is used in a commercial for those cookies. I craved those cookies so badly! So badly I asked my boyfriend to go pick up some of the cookies if he passed a store on his way home.

This would suggest that I was not free in the choice I made – wanting and buying those cookies. I was influenced by an external stimulus: the song used in the commercial.

(* This is a hypothetical situation to show you the argument of a determinist.)

You could say that this would be an example of good marketing, but I’d say those marketeers are just really well aware of how conditioning works. The essence of commercials is to repeat something as often as possible so that it becomes ingrained in the minds of countless people. Like me, all those people would be triggered subconsciously to go buy their cookies.

This counts for (nearly?) every event. Especially the hard determinists would agree with me on that. The hard determinist believes that there is no free will whatsoever – everything we do (or think, or want) has a cause, and we have been influenced by prior events to do as we do. Whether it is conditioning through commercials, your genetic makeup, or subconsciously wanting to be accepted by a certain group of people.

Libertarianism

Libertarianism of metaphysics should not be confused with the political libertarianism. I did this myself initially (and to make at least a little excuse for myself… We don’t have a political libertarian party or group in The Netherlands). Political libertarians believe that every person has rights to their own body and (rightly) acquired property.

Philosophical libertarians  believe in free will. They think that everyone has the ability to take more than one possible course of action under a given set of circumstances. They believe that nothing is determined.

Let’s take the example of the cookies again.

What if I thought about why I was craving those cookies, before acting on the craving?  I could tell myself “I don’t want those cookies, I don’t even like them”. That means that I would have made my choice, in free will, based on reason.

Fate and coincidence

Topics of much discussion that are essentially about free will are fate and coincidence.

Fate is a very (hard) determinist way of seeing things. Everything would be predestined, or perhaps it would be as they often said in Battlestar Galactica, and I quote: “all this has happened before, and will happen again” (the concept of “eternal return”). If all of what the characters in BSG were doing had already happened before, and would happen again, they didn’t have much of a free will in what they were doing.

What if not even conditioning had anything to do with me craving those cookies? What if that was “meant to be”? (Perhaps “meant to be” is a big term to throw at some cookies…)

Coincidence, on the other hand, is an extreme libertarian concept. In a coincidence, there are no causal relationships. What if everything was a coincidence? Perhaps me first seeing the cookies commercial on tv was a coincidence, then hearing the song separately was a coincidence, and then me craving the cookies was a coincidence? Perhaps my mind hadn’t even made the connection between the commercial and the song and the cookies? Maybe I just thought of it that way, that I was being triggered by the commercial, because I just read an article on conditioning – by coincidence.

I don’t think fate or coincidence exist (okay maybe coincidence does exist… but only a little!). I personally prefer the determinist way of thinking. I think that’s partially to blame on my knowledge of the neuroscience behind decisionmaking, which I will elaborate on next Tuesday.

Do you prefer to see thing the libertarian way or the determinist way?  Has your idea on this philosophy been influenced by other ideas on this matter, in for instance religion or stories?

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About Manon Eileen

Dutch 23-year-old SF/F YA writer, BSc in Psychology and soon MA in Global Criminology. She is creative, easily bored, and craves tea all the time. Also: "science isn't about why, it's about why not" - Cave Johnson.

View all posts by Manon Eileen →
  • http://piperbayard.wordpress.com Piper Bayard

    Hi Manon. Great blog, as always. Not sure what label this falls under, but I believe that, while we may be programmed to crave cookies when we hear certain music, we are responsible for exercising our free will as to whether or not we eat those cookies. Free will gives us the power of self-determinism even in the face of cookies. Speaking of which, I’m programmed to do some Christmas baking, and I am choosing to act accordingly. Merry Christmas, Happy Sinterklaas, and Fijne Midwinter :)

    • Manon Eileen

      Thanks for reading and replying again, Piper!

      Perhaps what you say is true… But I’m afraid I’m much more a determinist, so I do think you do your Christmas baking because you have to, because a) it’s Christmas (lol) b) because otherwise you’re body would become hungry c) because it’s fun…
      There’s numerous reasons I think that could influence you to act accordingly.

      But I hope I’ll be able to explain some more with the blog about neuroscience that I’ll post tomorrow.

  • http://piperbayard.wordpress.com Piper Bayard

    Added you to my blogroll. You have a wonderful way of explaining things. All the best.

    • Manon Eileen

      Aww that is so sweet of you! Thank you :D

  • http://the-verge-trm.blogspot.com/ Todd Moody

    Hi Manon,
    I just discovered your blog via Piper tweeting you. I enjoyed it. It reminded me of being back in college and coming up with my own philosophy and what the meaning of our existence was to some degree. I’m not sure if the college experience is so much different than being out in the world but I don’t think so much in those ways now. I learn about life by teaching my children what I have learned. I think everything is related. Is free will truly free unless it is completely free? Is a little free will mean anything? I do think we have the ability to make choices but everything we have experienced up to theat moment will impact our choice. Call it whatever you like. Everything counts, even the small stuff. Having sadi that I do beleive in destiny. LOL.

    I will be following your blog from here on out, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!

    • Manon Eileen

      Hi Todd – sorry it took me a while to reply to your comment! I blame Christmas.

      Thank you for reading and commenting, anyway!

      You have a great point – is there such a thing as a “little bit” free will (lol). Perhaps… That sounds a lot like what Piper suggests. I’m not sure though. In my opinion everything and all is influenced by experiences, bodily functions (hunger, thirst, etc), social pressure, conditioning… You name it. The list of what might influence you on decision making is so immensely long that I’m not even sure there is something as a little free will.

      Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts as well, Todd, and thank you for wanting to follow my blog! That makes me very happy! :D

  • A.J. Zaethe

    This subject has been a huge debate between myself and a good friend. This falls along the lines of Fate and Destiny and the difference between the two. But first Determinism. I have argued that this cannot exist because of the simple fact of too many factors that have to add up in order for anything to be determined. As for Libertarianism, I am more a stander for that. Sure, we are a product of our environment and we react to our environment, which is currently rolling, but we have a choice as to how to respond to that environment.

    This falls into my Fate Vs Destiny. Fate is predetermined life. Destiny is also a sort of predetermination, but you have the choice to fulfill it or not. You may have been meant to be the hero, but your alternate choices prevented that. Fate would have ensured that 100%

    Anyway. I like this topic. It is fun to debate over. In the end. Who knows?

    • Manon Eileen

      Hey A.J., thanks for reading! ^_^

      You’re very right – who knows. It’s really an interesting topic and hard to figure out how we actually make our choices. I hope I’ll be able to explain some of it in my next post about the neuroscience of decision making… Perhaps it’ll shed some light on things!

    • Tim

      I have to agree with A.J. Zaethe, in that too many factors have to add up to make events totally predetermined. This does not mean that choices cannot be to a very large extent be determined by external factors. This just is not the same as predetermination…

  • http://cmstewartwrite.wordpress.com/ CMStewart

    An infinitely long line of past events led to the event of me leaving this comment, as well as led to the infinite number of other present-time events. All events are interconnected, and are readily identifiable as such if you trace the events backwards to the causes, all the way back to the Big Bang (and before).

    “Free will” is an illusion. That is to say, no thought nor action is an event existing independent of its environment. You may “deliberately change your mind” about situation X any number of times, but every one of those “mind changes” was preceded by an event which directly influenced it. Our minds are a *part of the universe*, and thus do not act independently of the universe.

    IMO, of course. :)

    • Manon Eileen

      Hey! Thanks for reading and responding again! :)

      I have to admit I am totally with you – I too consider free will as a sort of illusion. There are so many factors (especially when you consider that our human behavior is 95% subconscious) that might influence a choice that I just can’t see how we can make our choice freely.

  • L

    Hi Manon,

    I think your libertarian section is confused. There are at least two types of libertarianism that I can think of. One is a position in the free will and determinism debate, which it seems you are interested in. Another is a position in debates about political justice. Libertarians in the second sense believe that individuals have rights to their body and their justly acquired property and that the state is legitimate only insofar as it protects those rights.

    You quote from Vallentyne who is writing about political libertarianism and this explains why you find what he says does not fit in with what you want to talk about. In other words Vallentyne is just talking about “acquiring realty”.

    hope this helps,
    L

    • Manon Eileen

      Hi L, thank you for reading and your comment…

      Oof, that’s bad though. I feel really embarrassed! I’ll fix it by researching it some more and correct my mistake.

      Thank you for your insight!

      (We don’t have political libertarianists here in the Netherlands, perhaps that’s sort of caused the confusion!)

  • http://cmstewartwrite.wordpress.com/ CMStewart

    Nice to revisit this. :)

    Re: metaphysical libertarianism- “What if I thought about why I was craving those cookies, before acting on the craving? I could tell myself ‘I don’t want those cookies, I don’t even like them.’ That means that I would have made my choice, in free will, based on reason.”

    Thoughts are also predetermined. “Decisions” are simply “thought processes.” I could “change my mind” about the cookies (or anything) one thousand times to try to disprove this, but each one of those “changes” was set in motion an infinite amount of time ago. IMO.

    Every time I think about how every thought, emotion, action, and event is predetermined, I feel a bit frustrated. Then I realize my frustration was predetermined as well, and then I realize the realization of my frustration being predetermined was also predetermined . . and then I mercifully stop thinking about it. (But not before I think about how my decision to stop thinking about it was also predetermined . . )

    • Manon Eileen

      “Every time I think about how every thought, emotion, action, and event is predetermined, I feel a bit frustrated. Then I realize my frustration was predetermined as well, and then I realize the realization of my frustration being predetermined was also predetermined… and then I mercifully stop thinking about it. (But not before I think about how my decision to stop thinking about it was also predetermined . . )”

      Lol, that was actually hilarious. It’s much like that, in my opinion, too. I’m pretty much a determinist when it comes to that.