What Choice Do You Have?
Free will: the debate, condensed.
The topic of free will and agency is complicated—so complicated, in fact, that raising the possibility of it existing or not can be polarizing. It is, perhaps, the most frivolous and important question we can contemplate; the ultimate philosophical debate.
I’m pretty sure we have free will; still, most of life is subject to forces that are so beyond out of our control that our only choice is to surrender to them. I think often of the discussion in which Christopher Hitchens responds to Sam Harris’ question “Do you believe in free will?” with “Of course I do, what choice do I have?”1
This line by Hitchens captures the essence of this whole debate: it is not really about whether we do or do not have agency to effect change in our lives and worlds: it is that whether we do or don’t, we might as well live as if we do.
If we do have some power over how things turn out, and that power is largely dependent on our awareness, our perspectives about the world, and the actions we take, then it is our challenge and responsibility to accept that power and use it wisely.
It is a gift to be able to spend our time contemplating whether we have agency or not and if so where we do. Herein the triviality and the profundity of this so-called debate lie: it doesn’t really matter if you were fated to choose the fries or the side salad, or you with all your personal agency made that choice—that’s what happened. At the same time, it really does matter how you choose to view the possibility of free will: choosing to believe you have the power to sculpt and effect change in your life feels a hell of a lot more empowering. And it seems to work, at least sometimes.
If we in fact do not have any agency and are fated to live these trajectories out—so be it. That really isn’t our business, anyways. Our business is to do what we believe we can do, and proceed as if we do have the choice and power to live fully and toward actualization.
Seems like the only option, really.
Maggie
For context, Sam Harris (meditation teacher, atheist, neuroscientist) does not believe in free will and wrote a whole book about it.
Interesting.