The Illusion of Free Will

The scientific approach seeks the immediate cause of an event to what led to what. Scientist assume this as determinism, the idea that everything happens has a cause or determent that one could observe or measure. This view is an assumption, not an established fact but the success of scientific research attests to its value. Does it apply to human behavior? After all we are part of the physical world and our brains are made of chemicals. According to the determinist assumptions, everything we do has causes. This view seems to conflict with the impression all of us have that “I” am the one who makes the decisions about my actions like what to eat or what to buy; I am in doubt right up to the last second. The decision could have gone either way which I wasn’t controlled by anything and no one could have predicted what I would do. The belief that behaviors is caused by a person's independent decision is known as free will.

Some biologist say that free will is just an illusion like Cashmore. What you call a conscious intention is more predictable than a cause of your behavior. When you have a conscious experience of deciding to move our hand or feet, the behavior is already starting to happen. Other biologist and philosophers reply that you do make decisions, in the sense that something within you initiates the action. Even though your brain is made out of chemicals, no one can predict your decisions my putting all the atoms together in your brain. The system as a whole has emergent properties that go by the sum of all its components. Nevertheless, the “you” that makes your decisions it itself is a product of a heredity and the events of your life which states that you did not create yourself. In a sense yes you have a will, an abili...

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...n personal advantage, a higher percentage of those who read the determinism essay cheated since they felt less sense of personal responsibilities. For free will to be true, you would have to choose what you think before you think about it which is beyond the capability of human brain which shows that our free will is just an illusion.

Even though we accept Cashmore's argument of free will being an illusion derived from consciousness and that consciousness has an evolutionary advantage of conferring the illusion of responsibility, we are still far from understanding the concept with consciousness and free will. What type of brain activity is associated with consciousness? Why does conscious experience exist at all? Research studies can not prove this to be incorrect but research results certainly do constrain the philosophical answers that we can seriously consider.