Whether or not we have free will is an ancient philosophical question. Ancient Greek philosophers already reasoned, ‘This happens because of that. Everything that happens could be an endless sequence of causes and effects.’ We feel we make our own choices. If I went out to buy a garden gnome yesterday, I am inclined to think I could as well have decided not to go out or to buy something more useful instead, like an inflatable Santa Claus. So, if I could go back in time, I might have done something different, or so I believe. But if I had felt an uncontrollable urge to buy that garden gnome, I would have considered myself subjected to forces beyond my control.

And some things are beyond our control or to a large degree. Our biology and culture limit our options. For instance, you cannot simply stop breathing or run faster than the speed of sound. Those who have tried failed. And it is hard to do things that go against the prevailing will of society or your family and friends unless you do not care about other people’s opinions, which might be something you have no control over. But it appears you still have options. Other choices, for instance, buying a garden gnome, do not raise controversy, and you appear free to make them.

Recent advances in neuroscience allow scientists to observe brain activity associated with making decisions. And that was quite revealing. Our choices originate in our brains several milliseconds or even longer before we become aware of them.¹ There is no free will in the sense we traditionally believe it to exist.

This traditional idea of our will is that the will is a force of its own. Nothing else is causing it. It is rooted in the belief that we have a mind, a spirit or a soul that is separable from our bodies. This idea is at odds with scientific findings that our minds are chemical brain processes. Not having a will is not the same as predestination, as it does not rule out that we can make different choices if we go back in time. Our choices could still be random, like the throw of a dice. And a dice does not have free will either.

At least we experience we make choices. These choices might be illusions, but the feelings that accompany them are not. It is the experience of choice ordinary people understand as free will. When you go through an emotional struggle before buying a garden gnome, the emotions are real, even if they are chemical processes in the body. And so, free will as experience exists. And it is pointless to argue that even if you could go back in time, you could not have done otherwise. You cannot go back in time. Life is an experience. Studying brains for too long might make you forget about life, and if you work for years in a laboratory researching electrons, you might learn much about electrons.

Predetermination raises several questions. One is about punishing criminals as retribution rather than to protect the public. A desire for reprisal is a human emotion. But it seems unjust to hold people responsible for actions they cannot control. Often, criminals have a poor upbringing or psychological issues. In our experience, moral rules and punishment matter, just like free will, and we experience choice. That is the point of punishing criminals. And it can deter calculating individuals. It is good to address social problems and prevent crime from happening when possible, but not addressing feelings of justice and the desire for reprisal can undermine the moral fabric of society.

Compatibilism asserts we have free will, even when our choices are predetermined. It is like the Christian idea of having a moral choice while God knows what you will choose. It becomes logically consistent if you introduce two levels: one level of daily experience and another level of the underlying reality. It is a practical approach. It allows us to make moral choices. The idea of morality depends on freedom of choice.

The second question deals with fate. If you are going to die on a preset day, then what is the point of seeing a doctor? Alternatively, you could opt for a dangerous hobby like mountaineering, for you will live until a specific date. Only you do not know that date. So, if you go to a doctor who cures you of an illness that would otherwise have been fatal, that would be predetermined. If you choose not to go to the doctor and you die, that would also be predestination. The same applies to abandoning a hobby such as mountaineering versus the alternative of perishing on the slopes of Mount Everest.

The third deals with premonitions and accurate predictions insofar as they are not attributable to fraud or chance. Why can fortune-tellers sometimes make accurate predictions? And why are their predictions unreliable at the same time? The answer is that it is impossible to know the future. If I know I will have a car accident tomorrow, I will remain at home, and the accident will not happen. Predictions can influence the future unless they are vague or hidden. In 1914, no one could have guessed that the licence plate number on Franz Ferdinand’s car referred to the end date of the upcoming world war.

Premonitions and accurate predictions require more than predestination. They presuppose foreknowledge of future events, but not necessarily with the persons having premonitions or making predictions. Some might argue that the future makes itself known to the present, which requires that epoch to have the urge to do so. Attributing a desire to an era is too far out for a rational thinker. More likely, someone knows and wants us to know. ‘Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,’ claimed Albert Einstein.

And by the way, this is also how voodoo works. The practitioner of voodoo puts needles in a doll, and the targeted subject suffers intense pains simultaneously, but there is no causal relationship. The underlying cause is a scripted coincidence. And the author of the script wants people to believe in voodoo.

Predetermination allows for more accurate predictions than mere guessing allows. Actions taken to prevent these predictions from being fulfilled must fail, which requires a lack of precise information on the actors involved. Oedipus fulfilled the prophecy he would kill his father and marry his mother. He didn’t know the couple he believed to be his parents were not his true parents. Fearing the prediction, he fled, leading to a sequence of events that made the prediction come true. The prophecies of ancient Greek oracles only made sense in hindsight.

Latest revision: 27 March 2024

Featured image: Aruba sunset. English Wikipedia.

1. The clockwork universe: Is free will an illusion? Oliver Burkeman. The Guardian (2021).