Determinism and Free Will, Term Paper Example

Most people instinctively believe that they possess free will. The idea of self-determination is an essential aspect of many religious, philosophical, and political traditions. Such is the case in regard to Christianity, social contract theory, and constitutional democracy, institutions that can be regarded as fundamental underpinnings of American society. However, many scientific theories and even scientific laws are cited on behalf of those who advocate a deterministic interpretation of reality. Determinism challenges the idea of free will on a completely empirical basis. According to Determinism and Freedom in the Age of Modern Science (1958), a basic definition of determinism is “that whatever occurs occurs under conditions given which nothing else could occur.” (Hook 211). In other words everything that happens is the result of unalterable conditions that preceded it. Such a position is based on scientific principles, but can also be rebutted through scientific evidence. The following discussion will show that, despite the seemingly persuasive argument for determinism, free-will actually persists and can be demonstrated by reference to modern science.

Before proceeding to an examination of the scientific evidence for the existence of free-will, a closer look at determinism is necessary. One thing that it is essential to understand is that determinism is generally supported through reference to biological and environmental determinants. This means at the macro and micro levels. For example, the atomic reactions between chemical compounds determine the resulted by-products and chemical exchanges that result in what we perceive as action the physical world. Adherents to this position usually cite classical physics, chemistry, and mathematics as the evidence that supports a deterministic reality. These same adherents often ignore or downplay the resulting consequence that such a world view has on the question of moral responsibility. Instead, they focus on obtaining physical and experimental verification of deterministic laws.

For example, the pioneering researcher, Benjamin Libet theorized that physical brain activity preceded conscious cognition and therefore, free will was simply an illusion that was produced as the result of anatomical processes. Alfred R. Mele refers to Libet’s work in his book Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will (2009). He remarks that Libet’s theories about brain activity preceding consciousness are based in experimental study. In terms of what this might mean for the idea of free-will, Mele asserts that “An influential series of experiments by Libet has suggested that conscious intentions arise as a result of brain activity.” (Mele 67). There is no mistaking the importance of the word “intentions” in this sentence. What it means is that what we routinely call free-will is only a by-product of brain-activity that takes place at a level below our ability to consciously comprehend.

Such experimental efforts resulted in the advent of a field of consciousness study known as the neuroscience of free-will. The fact remains that studies such as those pioneered by Libet present a powerful range of evidence in support of the deterministic position. Science is, itself, founded on the idea of replication and verification, as well as cause and effect. All of these ideas are predicated on the underlying assumption that a chain of deterministic events is verifiable to at least some degree. Whether or not that deterministic system is encompassing enough to eliminate all possibility of the existence of free-will is the question that remains. If it can be demonstrated by scientific means that the deterministic model is fallible at some fundamental, empirical level, then the idea of free-will would, of course, be given another lease on life.

Fortunately for those who advocate free-will, such a premise for the repudiation of determinism does exist in science. It can be found, in fact, at the most profound levels of our most advanced science, that of quantum physics. The reason that quantum physics is our most important arm of science is because it presently offers not only our best theory about the nature of reality, but also fuels and makes possible a great number of key technologies that operate in our society. Quantum physics is a complicated field and its intricacies are very difficult to comprehend for the layman. That said, one of the underlying principles of quantum physics is that the deterministic model of reality that was encouraged and supported by classical physics is in actuality unsupportable. In simple terms, quantum physics is a direct rebuttal of deterministic physics: “The basic way in which quantum mechanics differs from classical mechanics is the following: our inferences about the future must be expressed in terms of probabilities.” (Hook 77). Randomness form an inherent part of the quantum universe. The idea of certainty regarding the position or velocity of any given particle in the universe is surrendered.

According to William Byers in The Blind Spot: Science and the Crisis of Uncertainty (2011), quantum physics departs completely from the certainty of classical physics which, in turn, virtually eliminates the potential for human reason to discover a complete system of scientific knowledge. Byers writes that “Quantum physics does not have the same level of certainty as classical physics. The classical ideal of complete, objective, and absolutely certain knowledge has been lost. The ability of reason to “capture” the world has been put in doubt. (Byers 35). For a determinist, any suggestion of randomness is unacceptable. However, a great deal of uncertainty is present at the quantum level of reality. Since the quantum level is the bedrock out of which all other realities emerge, that preponderance of randomness in the quantum world casts serious doubts on conceptions of determinism.

In order to fully understand how complete the refutation of determinism is in quantum physics, the theories associated with quantum physics must be viewed in light of a central tenant that they all share. That tenant is that randomness is an inherent feature of the universe. Obviously, with this single principle, quantum physicists have effectively abandoned the deterministic model. Byers affirms this notion when he writes “Randomness means a lack of order, and without some kind of order it is difficult to see how there can be certainty. Many of the great theories of modern science testify to the fact that uncertainty is an irreducible feature of the world.” (Byers 35). The idea that uncertainty is built into the very fabric of the universe and that such uncertainty is “irreducible” also closes the door on any future attempt to prove the theory of determinism.

If determinism is absent at the deepest known level of physical reality, then it follows that the determinism that is verified by classical physics is illusory. It makes little difference if the macro-level shows a largely deterministic picture, the randomness of the quantum matrix means that all manifestations in the macro-world are actually the result of indeterminate phenomena. This conviction, however damaging to the theory of determinism is still a slightly different issue than the question of whether or not free-will exists. For example it would still be possible to assert that human cognition is the result of physical activities in the brain that precede thought. All that is necessary is to postulate that the unconscious activities in the brain are caused by quantum fluctuations that arise out of randomness.

This means that free-will does not exist but randomness and indeterminism do exist. This would be the best counterargument that could be made against the quantum theory by someone who was looking to refute the idea of free-will. That said there is still the issue of moral and ethical responsibility – ideas that are vitally important once the idea of strict determinism is abandoned. As the preceding discussion has clearly shown, strict determinism is impossible to fully support through scientific means whereas indeterminism is an acknowledged aspect of deepest reality, according to modern science. If this is the case, then what are we to make of the human ideals of morality and ethical behavior? While religions such as Christianity advocate free-will and moral responsibility, the “poof” for the existence of free-will is generally based solely in scripture and emotion.

While it is true that all human-beings feel a sense of free-will, this feeling may just as easily be an illusion of physiology and brain chemistry. As Mele puts it, not free will, but “neural events are among the relatively proximal causes of our acts of deciding to A, and we are not conscious of those neural events as neural events.” (Mele 86). In other words, if we have free will, then why are we unconscious of the neural activity in our brains that seems to dictate out thoughts and actions? The answer to that question lies, again, in the quantum model which predicts that the uncertainty principle has a connection to consciousness and human perception. According to several widely accepted models of quantum physics, human consciousness plays a role in shaping the substance and events that take place in the physical world.

The human mind is an agent by which quantum wave-collapse takes place and randomness becomes observed reality. The inclusion of consciousness in the chain of physical creation is the best verification of free-will that science offers at this time. The fact that this belief is “standard” rather than theoretical would seem to be a dramatic blow against those who would argue that free-will is only an illusion. This is due to the fact that consciousness would precede the manifestation of any observed reality and therefore, consciousness can be thought of at its most basic level as being nothing more than the expression of free-will. This would mean that free-will not only exists but that in some strange, but scientifically verifiable way, it both precedes and transcends material reality.

Works Cited

Byers, William. The Blind Spot: Science and the Crisis of Uncertainty. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2011.

Hook, Sidney, ed. Determinism and Freedom in the Age of Modern Science. New York: New York UP, 1958.

Mele, Alfred R. Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will. New York: Oxford UP, 2009.