Noted athiest Sam Harris says there is no such thing.
I disagree.
Harris says that based on our IQ, brain chemistry and our ‘nurture,” (that is our environment growing up), that we are predestined to act the way we act. He says we have choices but maintains that we do not have real free will.
In The Moral Landscape, Harris says this about your action in a particular circumstance: “You seem to be an agent acting of your own free will. (However) … this point of view cannot be reconciled with what we know about the human brain.” And he says further, “All of our behavior can be traced to biological events about which we have no conscious knowledge: this has always suggested that free will is an illusion.”
Harris says we can “choose to focus on certain facts to the exclusion of others, to emphasize the good rather than the bad, etc.” but when he speaks about choice and freedoms he is “…not endorsing a metaphysical notion of ‘free will.’”
Sam Harris, one of the brightest intellects today, is however arguing “How many angels can, of their own free will, dance on the head of a pin.” I understand his argument. I too believe that we know little about the functions of the brain. I also understand his objection to the moral, retributive nature of the religious concept of free will.
However, I don’t think his notions pass the reasonableness test. In my life, I’ve made free will choices; in some cases, counter to my seeming best interest and counter to my experiences, upbringing, and environment.
Harris has defended his argument against a number of critics in a new book: Free Will.
Learn more at: http://www.samharris.org
How about you?
Do you have free will or is it an illusion?
