Free Will
There has been much discussion on the topic of free will of late. Many materialists seem to suggest that since:
- Our will is a property of our brain.
- Our brain is material
- all material systems are deterministic.
∴ Our will is predetermined and not free.
I think this line of reasoning is not helpful. While I agree that the three premises above are likely correct, the conclusion assumes a definition of free will that requires our will to be independent of any causes, which it clearly is not.
When I first studied computer science in high school I became a aware of the random number problem. Computers are deterministic and therefore cannot generate a true random number. Instead they make use of pseudorandom series. Upon self examination I soon concluded that my own brain suffered from the same problem. I was incapable of truly random behaviour. Does free will really mean “random will”. Some have called it the freedom to choose that which you choose. Is that not just a case of over abstraction leading to absurdity. Any idea becomes absurd if it should be made to stand up to an infinite regression of meta analysis.
In order to understand how to define Free will, we need to recognise that we are trying to understand the basis for moral agency.
Our brain makes decisions, these decisions are based on a kind of pay off matrix. That is we evaluate a whole lot of inputs which are weighted in various ways and choose that cause f action with the greatest reward. Now when I say reward I mean a chemical response in our brain. In many cases the most “rewarding” action may well be altruistic and even self-sacrificial.
The inputs to the matrix are all natural, some are from our senses, others the state of various chemicals within our body. The matrix itself is a combination of associations that we have learnt and heuristics that we inherited. It could be argues that this is an entirely deterministic system, however may be free, in the sense that it is not subject to some kind of external manipulation. It is “free” to calculate according to its own rules. This is important to the concept of moral responsibility and therefore to crime and punishment.
The existence of some kind of moral consequence is just another input to the payoff matrix. An important input that may well change the result in favour of one conducive to a healthy society.