‘FREE WILL’
CAERS Substack Article #82
I have always been a little surprised at how liberally we use the term ‘free will’, as though it is a given or an absolute. When people state that we have free will, it is as though there exists no ‘will’ other than that which is ‘free’. But is that so? Is there such a thing as will that is not free? Or could there be degrees of ‘free-ness’?
We have a tendency as a species to think binary, so we may believe that one either has free will, or will that is not free at all. Many claim that animals have in some sense a ‘will’, but it is never free because we deem that all of their behaviour, their ‘will’, is pre-programmed and instinctual. However, many of us who have pets, or who have at least interacted with animals, sense that although much of what they do seems reflexive and automatic, not all of it does. At times they seem to be able to make choices that do indeed appear to be freely made; they are not completely mindless, robotic automatons.
If we believe that humans have free will, is it an all-or-none phenomenon? Is our will completely free at all times from the moment we are born? That seems unlikely; virtually all of the behaviours exhibited during infancy by anyone who has ever lived are very similar to those of animals. We cry when we are hungry or need our diaper changed; we ‘will’ such behaviour as a matter of reflex.
In fact, for much of our childhood, a significant amount of our behaviour is dictated by innate survival mechanisms involved in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. We slowly gain control of these reflex behaviours such that we will ourselves to do things only after we have taken time to reflect first on the best course of action. The more we do so, the more our ‘will’ can be considered to be ‘free’.
Equally, when someone is afflicted by dementia can we truly claim that their will is completely free? No doubt it is adversely affected by their decline in cognitive functioning. If we are starving or in severe pain, do we have the same degree of free will as when we are comfortable and not feeling threatened? Similarly, someone addicted to heroin may have their volitional choices hampered by the negative biochemical effects of the substance itself, or the psychiatric condition that may undergird it. How ‘free’ is their ‘will’?
This issue of free will is central to the idea of responsibility for our actions. In law, it is referred to as ‘mens rea’—the state of mind of the accused. The individual with an unrecognized brain tumour who has a first seizure while driving and kills someone by accident is not deemed to have the same level of free will as someone who, despite repeated warnings, has repeatedly chosen to get drunk and then drive. The two will have their culpability, the level of responsibility for their behaviours, assessed quite differently on the basis of the degree of free will each was deemed to possess at the time of the accident.
I suspect that our entire evolution as individuals is closely tied to the concept of free will. As we mature, we are expected to take more and more responsibility for our actions by pondering the repercussions carefully before we act, and in so doing engage our free will as much as possible prior to proceeding. But there may always be some limitations to this ‘freedom’, based on medical conditions, psychiatric issues, developmental and experiential influences, intellectual and cognitive limitations, environmental factors, etc.
As we grow beyond the narcissism of our childhood, we hopefully increase our ability for altruistic thoughts and behaviours and free ourselves of fixating only on avoidance of personal pain or pursuit of personal pleasure. If we could rid ourselves of all of our various obsessions and compulsions, perhaps we could then state that our will is completely free. However, only the mostly saintly among us may ever be able to make such a claim.
Of course, our free will is often limited by other people and the society in which we reside. In the extreme, when we are incarcerated in prison much of our freedom is heavily restricted, but even then, we still have some control as to how we deal with the situation. That is true for most adversity we face—our attitude, as part of our free will, can be within our control. Many a person has lived a very meaningful and satisfying life despite horrible circumstances because they have exercised their free will to the fullest extent they could and made the best of a bad situation. They deserve our admiration.
Have you had experiences in life during which your will was not as free as you would have liked? Did you sometimes only recognize that after the fact? Have you ever been held accountable in situations in which others assumed that your will was much freer than you felt it really was at the time?
During the pandemic there has been much discussion about freedom, and in some sense free will as well. We would be wise to reflect more on these important concepts because our happiness and the quality of our society depend on us exercising our will freely and wisely. Simply doing what we want, succumbing to every passing fancy or selfish pursuit of pleasure, or being completely controlled by our emotions, will not yield the best results. Ultimately, we are likely to be held accountable for the consequences that employing our free will produces, so it is worth the effort to actively and consciously choose well.
J. Barry Engelhardt MD (retired) MHSc (bioethics)
CAERS Health Intake Facilitator