The idea of free will originates from the concept that human neurophysiology allows for an individual to make a conscious choice about one's actions prior committing and executing that action. However, where does the "thought" of committing an action originate from?
Many argue that free will constitutes your inner consciousness which allow you to think of doing actions before you execute them. However, if any choice that an individual makes derives from consciousness, which is simply neuronal electrical firings deep within the cerebral cortex, mere repeated biochemical reactions, is that choice actually produced by free will of an individual?
Any thought that proceeds through your consciousness is a mere supplementation to your previous thought. Meaning, anything that you think of is a result of a previous neuronal action influencing another neuronal action producing a thought, which gives the perception of free will. At any given moment, you can't actually say what you're going to think of next until it happens. There isn't any thought process that goes into what you're going to think of next, it just happens.
You can try this experiment yourself. Think of
any number randomly in your mind right now. Then ask yourself, at what point during your thought process did you single out that number? What internal factors within your consciousness allowed you to pick that number? Of course, external environmental factors could prime you to pick a certain number, but this doesn't lend credence to the idea that you yourself determined a number based upon your own free will. Point being, you did not and cannot originate the source of the number you just picked.
Any thoughts you had prior to picking your number is the action of firing neurons in which EEG electrical activity rises. This electrical activity within your brain influenced other neurons to fire causing your conscious to derive and produce a number. You cannot pinpoint nor did you control any of these neuronal firings within the process of selecting a number. Does this suggest free will is an illusion?
For free will to exist and for you to make a truly "conscious" decision would be for some you, whatever "you" may be, to be fully aware of all the internal factors within your mind, every neurotransmitter, every neuronal synapse, and every biochemical reaction occurring within your brain and manipulating these factors in order to produce some sort of output. Granted it isn't possible to have access to every neurotransmitter, every neuronal synapse, and every biochemical reaction occurring within your mind, how could free will exist?
The existence of free will, or the lack thereof, fundamentally changes how society should operate. If free will doesn't exist, should criminals be held accountable for their actions? This isn't as crazy as it might seem. The U.S. already accepts the plea of insanity in which an individual is not held responsible for a crime they commit by reason of mental illness. This does not mean the individual is not separated from society, but it does mean the individual is not held liable for their crimes. I am not advocating that we do not hold criminals liable for crimes, however it poses the question of why a criminal may act in the first place and whether any crime committed is truly the result of one's free will or is laid at the feet of determinism.
Show Posts
