A Final Note On The Existence of Free Will

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve read quite a bit about free will in the hope of expanding on the position I elucidated in a previous post. What I’ve discovered along the way is a stronger commitment to compatibilism.

In the first place, compatibilism is the view of a large majority of philosophers (60% compatibilism; 19% libertarianism; 11% no free will.)[224]  Furthermore among evolutionary biologists, 80% said that they believe in free will while only 14 percent chose no free will, and 7 percent did not answer the question.[225] (I’d guess physicists would be more drawn to the hard determinist position.)

Now these stats don’t necessitate my position but I’m always interested in the views of other philosophers and scientists. But in the end, I reiterate that freedom—like consciousness and meaning—is an emergent property of the evolutionary process. I know this gives no specifics about how our complex brains make decisions but the ability to deliberate and choose (accepting all the determining casual factors—upbringing, education, neurophysiology, etc.) is a property or ability that slowly emerges in complex brains. Of course I need to further explain emergence here.)

I simply don’t believe that we are as determined as ants or bumble bees. And, as I said before, free will exists to various degrees in individuals.

Finally, let me say that I’m embarrassed that after reading so much in the last few weeks I can’t say more. But the literature on the issue is so voluminous that it would take the rest of my life to adequately digest it. Not wanting to do this I have taken a provisional position which is open to further revisal. For the moment then I’m committed to some form of compatibilism. I’m particularly drawn to the compatibilism of Daniel Dennett in his book Freedom Evolves.

Here are a few of the sources that I’ve been reading over the last few weeks:

Free Will by Sam Harris (a defense of hard determinism.)

Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert Sapolsky (a defense of hard determinism.)

Freedom Evolves by Daniel Dennett (defends compatibility with an evolutionary twist.)

“Does Quantum Mechanics Rule Out Free Will?” by John Horgan (a critique of superdeterminism.)

“From Chaos To Free Will” by George Ellis (a physicist on why so many other physicists on wrong about free will.)

“Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will” by John Martin Fischer (a scathing review of Sapolsky’s book.)

“Some Thoughts on Sam Harris’ Final Thoughts on Free Will” by Ed Gibney (an astute criticism of Harris’ book.)