The Problem of Freedom
The problem of free will.
One of the biggest problems in philosophy is the problem of free will. At first glance, it doesn’t seem to be that big of a problem. After all, most people in the world go about acting as if all their choices are free, and that they were not compelled to act one way or another. Many people might think that it is absurd to believe that all our actions are determined by causal forces that we have no control over.
Yet, there is a problem, and the problem has yet to be resolved. If you believe in God, then you would probably also accept the fact that God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient. The problem comes with the fact that God is omniscient. If God is omniscient, that means that he know everything. Then, it would also follow that he knows to an exact certainty everything that is to happen in the future. If he knows exactly what is to happen in the future, doesn’t that mean that the future is predetermined? For free will to exist, it seems to be that there needs to be this notion of uncertainty. If my friend John has gotten an A on every mathematics test so far, then it would be reasonable to believe that he will also get an A on the next test. However, I cannot know that to a certainty. He might suddenly decide to fail the next test just for the hell of it, so he is not compelled to earn an A. But, to know a future event to an absolute certainty must mean that the event is predetermined.
Well, you can easily brush that off by saying, “I don’t believe in God anyways.” That, however, does not solve the problem of free will. If God does not exist, science still poses a problem for free will. One of the major “laws” of science is that everything has a cause. If my car breaks down and I ask an auto mechanic what happened, he is not going to go very far by saying, “Well, it just happened. There was no cause, it just broke down.” There was cause, like everything else in science, and that cause was governed by the laws of science. Additionally, that cause was caused by something else, which in turn was caused by something else, and so forth. So, through science, it is starting to seem as if everything has a deterministic cause. It is as if the Big Bang set up the initial conditions and everything else followed like dominoes. If the world functions in such a causally deterministic manner, what room is there for free will?
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Post CommentMindIt
On May 28, 2008 at 5:51 am
Your arguments flow from the premises that either God does exist or everything must have a cause. But if I reject both, I can have my free will, right?
In fact, neither of the assumptions is proven yet. Nobody ever proved that God exists, and if He/She does, He/She is omniscient. Similarly, science or logic has not been able to prove that everything must have a cause. If everything must have a cause, then the cause also would have a cause, and we will end up with infinite causes. I don’t think any human being has been or will ever be able to explain infinity. So any argument based on this concept is only an assumption but may not be the truth.
I am not ready to suspend my free will based on assumptions.
zashuna
On May 28, 2008 at 11:04 am
Nobody has proven that God exists, and I’m not assuming that he does. But if he does and if he is omniscient, and most Christians believe that their God is omniscient, then there seems to be little room for free will. There have been many arguments put forth trying to reconcile God’s omniscience with the existence of free will, but I didn’t really go into that.
Science works on the assumption that everything has a cause. IT seems to suggest that the big bang was the first cause, and everything else follows in a cause and effect manner. But no, science hasn’t been able to prove that everything has a cause. As a matter of fact, science has been able to prove (to a certainty) very little. But, based on what we know of the world, there is good reason to believe that our actions and events in the everyday world have a cause. It’s more than just a random assumption. Things don’t happen for no reason.
Also, don’t get the impression that I am a determinist, because I am not. This essay was mostly meant as an introduction to the problem of free will.
MindIt
On May 29, 2008 at 1:11 am
I appreciate your analysis, Zashuna. It is difficult to live without a belief system, and free will is incompatible with all belief systems (not only Christian). Free will is like infinity; it means infinite possibilties. It is too mind-boggling for the human brain to conceive. That is why human being developed belief systems in the first place. Now trying to reconcile free will with a belief system is bound to fail.