1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: A question for Objectivists
Free will is not causeless actionit is self-caused action at the level of thought. The fundamental choice is to focus one’s mind or to drift. This is the essence of volition: the choice to engage reason or evade it.
Not all actions are volitional. Reflexes, emotions, and automatic bodily functions are not governed by free will. If you eat simply because you’re hungry, that’s not volitional; but if you consider when, what, and whether to eat based on thought and values, that is an act of free will.
Free will operates within causality it does not defy it. It is agent causation: you, as a conceptual being, determine the course of your thinking and actions. But free will can be interfered with by force, coercion, or physical impairment. A man under threat, drugged, or physically restrained is not acting volitionally. However, so long as the power to think remains, free will remains.
Comment by Unhappy-Land-3534 at 08/03/2025 at 05:48 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It is agent causation: you
But who I am is not up to my control. I'm a product of my environment.
If I make a choice, I would cite a reason for doing so. That reason is ultimately external to my self. I don't like the color yellow, past trauma, I prefer taking the bus, past experience, I want to be wealthy, societal relations, etc.
Every caveman would choose a basket of apples over a free iPhone. And every modern Human would do the opposite. Likewise, simple intelligence animals make choices between things.
As you said, Free will is not choosing, but the capability to act volitionally, free of any personal self-interest. All rational self-interested action is by definition not free will. Rational: derived from reason, and self-interested: derived from incentive. The only way to achieve free will is to have your needs met to the extent that you feel free to contribute to something outside of your own rational self-interest, say creating art, or helping a stranger. Of course having those needs met isn't a guarantee that one would, simply the prerequisite.
Making rational self-interested choices is not free will, simply a demonstration of intelligence. Something animals can demonstrate by pulling a lever or using a stick to get food. Free will is being capable of exerting our free energy and free time towards something outside of rational self-interest.