Do We Have Free Will?

Do we have free will?  This question has been considered since Socrates took his first step.  I find this question to be so intriguing because in so few words such a complex question emerges.   A question with dozens of interpretations, yet only two possible answers.  

I should first clarify the angle I plan to answer this question.  When discussing free will, I am questioning if we are responsible for our actions, or if our actions are simply laid out for us.  This does not imply that there is a higher being or some type of destiny we are all given. I am instead questioning whether we rule ourselves or if we are ruled by ourselves.

As of now, there are two factors that define us as humans: nature and nurture.  Our internal characteristics, such as genetics, make up the “nature” part of who we are.  While on the other hand, the external things we experience, like our environment and upbringing, determine our nurture.  With centuries of debate on which portion is more influential, the one agreement everyone has come to is that the sum of those two parts result in who we are. 

In an effort to understand nature, one can think of genetics as a written code from within us.  This written code essentially shows the spectrum of what our personality and tendencies can become. To put it simply, our genes allow for personality traits to form more and less easily depending on what we experience throughout our life… yet it is also a bit more complicated because it also partially determines what we experience. Hence where the nurture fills in.

In this same reflexive way, nurture works similarly.  We are born and raised in an environment that we have no say over.  The parents who raised us, the house we lived, and the location we grew up, these are all part of our life that help determine who we are today. And as they influence us, they create us and then we in turn create them back. So, to summarize the process in a sentence: an experience, or nurture, allows for the gene, or nature, to make a trait that determines our actions that create a future experience that reinforces or alters the created trait. 

Interestingly, when we consider these truths in such a fashion, it seems to be a bit out of our control. And that is exactly what I would argue in this post. These are simply the cards we were dealt, and our genetics told us how to play them.

A common argument to this claim is that we make decisions all the time and those decisions can affect our environment.  For example, the college we choose to attend will largely affect the rest of our life. And because of this, one may argue that we do have a say in what environment we surround ourselves in.  

The problem with this argument is how we make decisions.  Decision making is based on logic and reasoning from our past events and knowledge we have received.  When faced with a decision, our subconscious memories of similar experiences create that gut feeling we get when weighing our options.  These subconscious memories sway us one way or the other, and largely determine our choice in the matter. With this understanding, we can conclude that our knowledge and logic is a sum of everything we have experienced and been told.  Which once again, we had no choice over.

As you have probably guessed at this point, I do not believe we have free will.  Both nature and nurture, the two things that create us, are not determined by us.  They are instead forced onto us and determine our every thought, which includes our decision making as well.  It is because of this that we can never break away from our predetermined selves. We are the people we were always going to become, and we do not rule ourselves but are instead ruled by ourselves.

To read more on this subjective I have written a post that quickly looks at the implications of this theory. Therefore, feel free to follow the link to my post The Implications of Our Lack of Free Will

** As wise as these words may be, I don’t totally know if they are true anymore. Funny how life works like that. Feel free to read the hyperlinked post which discusses an idea that logically eludes to us actually being able to take control of ourselves. **