Free will has been approached from many different ways. Some try to say that we don’t have free will because we observe processes that cannot exit themselves. Others say that we do, because we are different beings, and that we have the ability to think, and through thought, we can create change of our own choice. Undeniably, there are many more arguments than these mere two, but in further argumentation, one realizes that there are reasons for wanting to choose one side or the other. This is something to be deliberately focused on in order to apprehend the reasons for one’s own bias in ideas. From then on forward, the person can use ideas in a way that will promote them to do things they want to do or not do. Pragmatics have been a focus of mine, and free will can be utilized and thought of in a practical way in order to promote the individual to do what they want. To then use free will, or really any idea in your own personalized way, it must be understood how many came to their perspectives, why they hold onto them so dearly, and what it would take for them to break out of those. From there, the variables, of which are interconnected, can showcase the practical use of thinking in a way that promotes the intention of the person.
In those that believe humans do not have free will, they could be thinking in such a way for many reasons. Some common ones are: the fact they observe things staying within limited confines, processes being unable to exist by themselves, the uncontrollability of variables which have made the individual, and their interest to have logic and reasoning within the mind. This is not a comprehensive list to all of the reasons that a person might believe that humans lack free will, but it is enough to then break down many of the ideas laid here, and then upon the disestablishment of these, it can then be realized that any further ideas could also be broken down. This too, will be true of the opposing side, the one which believes we do have free will. However, first, it is imperative to break down these four common ideas.
Things are always within a certain parameter, whether that’s something we have control over and have set, or that it is something we don’t have control over. In an experiment, we could set a limit, and note that limit, and measure from within that. Or, on a very simple level, we can observe when things exit confines, and then enter new confines, like a phase change. The things in the external world we don’t have control over are things like gravity or the location of the Earth, the Sun, or any other star or planet. We cannot control any of those things, at least not right now, and therefore we have to react to them as they are. The general idea is that, things are within parameters, and they cannot exit those parameters if they wish to be the same thing, because once they do exit them, they become something else entirely. The person who does not believe in free will can use this to explain why humans are the same. We are born into a world, and we react to many different things, and we stick within parameters set for us, and thus, we cannot exit them.
There is nothing that we have perceived that can exist without relying on something else. Humans are an incredibly high-level example, as we require a variety of things in order to exist, and it is only through those things that we continue to live. Even at the smallest levels, an organism needs something else to exist, whether to exist, receive energy from, or anything along those lines. The Earth could only create life with water and the Sun, without these things, we wouldn’t have life. The Earth, the Sun, or any other thing within the universe could not exist without the universe itself. What does the universe rely on? We don’t quite know, but to the extent that we can see, to the extent we can measure, everything is going to be reliant on something else. This can be brought back to human thought and our inability to make choices or have thoughts that aren’t reliant on other things. On a high level, these thoughts and choices are reliant on other thoughts, maybe even feelings, but those are also from experiences. Experiences we may have chosen at later points, but at first, we didn’t have a choice, therefore, at the beginning, since that is where all our thoughts, feelings, and ideas are originally stemming from, we didn’t choose what is to be thought, therefore, this person would say we don’t have free will.
I have already talked about this, the uncontrollability of variables that have made the individual, when I talked about reactions. It’s in line with what has already been presented for the most part, the idea being, you are born into a world you didn’t choose, with parents you didn’t choose, and environments you did not choose. However, when I talked about reactions, I focused more on the fact that we can adapt ourselves to react to our own environment. While here, I want to focus on the idea that those who believe we do not have free will, think that all we do stems from things outside of our control. We are in a world of reactions, so, we react to the world around us. We are unable to act, in the sense that, we cannot do things without there being something else that has enabled us to think we should or must do something. There is always another variable at play guiding our hands into a particular direction.
People who don’t believe we have free will, at least in my experience, want to maintain the idea that all things are orderly and logical. It’s less about how they view the world, whether reductionistically or holistically, but more-so about ideas and thoughts that have been constructed in a way that provide evidence for their existence, and these should be noted as more relevant than those that aren’t. This becomes important, because if one wants to believe that we cannot have free will, they will have created arguments and logicisms to promote, and ultimately attempt, to prove that we do not have free will. Some of the above ideas are what someone might say, but obviously, there are many more, and the idea is, the person sharing them will likely have evidence or proof to showcase how we don’t have free will. It is never simply, “we don’t have free will.”
Before moving onto the other side, that believes we do have free will, I want to mention that I am not siding with any particular side, at least not intentionally. I’m aware my bias will bleed through my writing, and I can’t really avoid this, but my focus is less about the strengths or weaknesses of either side, but instead, on the pragmatic view one could have on free will, because honestly, arguing about free will is silly, and I think the people who do so are wasting their time. Argue about whatever you want, I guess.
For those who believe we do have free will, there are also arguments for their belief. Some of the common ones are that: free will itself is a choice, free will is something that can chosen at a later point, free will cannot be proven therefore lack there of cannot be proven, and questioning whether or not we have free will is proof that we have it. Admittedly, I’ve associated and have been around individuals who side with the idea that we don’t have free will more than we do, so it is possible that these arguments will come off as weaker simply as a result of my lack of experience. However, once again, I want to reiterate that it is not about the strength of argument on either side, but actually, how both sides are quite silly, if the individual chooses to let these ideas control them.
Free will being a choice isn’t backed up by any further logic other than the fact that, if this weren’t the case, we wouldn’t able to choose anything else. The idea is, because this person thinks we do have free will, we can choose paths that make sense to us, and then we can do what we want by choosing whichever path we’d like. The focus here is less on the variables that might have built us who we are, which we didn’t have control over, but more on the fact we can make choices now, which is what truly matters. If perhaps, we still didn’t have any control, and we didn’t have any amount of awareness, then we wouldn’t have free will, and that would be indicated by our inability to question whether or not we have free will.
This plays into the next idea, which is that free will is something that can be chosen at a later point. Perhaps when we are growing up, we don’t have a choice in much of anything. Like mentioned, things like parents or environments are totally out of our control, along with things like schools or people we’re around. However, as we grow older, become adults, and gain further control over our lives, we can then choose to do what we wish, how we wish, when we wish, within certain limits. These limits are generally based around what other humans have done and created, like the systems that exist that allow many of us to live much more comfortable lives than in the past, albeit these systems have issues. Despite the problems and issues with these systems, the idea is, the parameters in this argument aren’t about fundamental ones constricting life or how things are, but more based around what humans have done. Humans created the restrictions for a reason, and we follow those for a reason, and we choose to follow them. Therefore, despite these restrictions, we can choose what to do with our increased awareness and control, over both the world and ourselves. Sure, we might not be able to choose what thoughts to have, but we can choose how we react to those thoughts, exercising our ability to have control, just like we can choose whether to act upon thoughts or not.
One might argue all the ways we don’t have free will; by using logicisms, in-depth arguments, proof from anecdotal experience, and self-evident truths in the universe. However, they might construct their argument and present whatever proof they might have, but it is limited in scope. They cannot truly prove we do not have free will, and this is what someone who would say we do have free will might argue. If we cannot prove we don’t have free will, we also cannot prove we do have free will. Due in fact that we cannot prove either side, this would be an opportunity to showcase that there is a choice present. We can choose to believe in free will, or just as well, believe in our lack of free will. If we can choose which side we are on, then that belief alone will enable us to act accordingly to how we feel and think. If you chose to believe we don’t have free will, you would then act more like a person who follows that belief, and the vice versa is just as true. This argument is about belief, and because free will is an abstract concept, it is merely a thought or belief, and that means it can or cannot be believed in.
Humans love to question; they want to know things, and get to the bottom of things. We cannot always do this, but because we try at all, we are subverting what is natural in many cases. It might be the most natural path to not have free will, to just let things be, and to go with the grain, not against it. Another aspect of this is that we can choose to go with the grain or against it, we don’t have to follow any specific ruleset other than the one we create. By questioning whether or not we have free will, we prove to ourselves we must have free will, because if we didn’t, we would do the most natural thing, which would be to not question, and this is because, as far as we can tell, most things do not question. If most things do not question, that is the median, the normal, and we are then being exceptional; unusual, and having free will would also be esoteric.
Now that I’ve established both sides in very small amounts, I want to focus on why you shouldn’t bother with either of these sides. Basically, one doesn’t have to. If it doesn’t bring you any benefit to think in a certain way, why would you think in that way? Yes, one side would say we don’t have control over how we think, and this is true, but only in reference to how much time is put in to control the thoughts. People can change, become layered beings, and so what was once a normal thought then becomes unusual or random. Just as you don’t think the same things you did five years ago, or five years before that. In my personal observations, the side that thinks we don’t have free will holds that belief in order to perpetuate many things in their lives, and they don’t even quite realize this.
I was talking to one person, and they had some amount of mental acuteness, but despite this, they were unable to break out of the mental barriers that held them thinking that free will is not something accessible to them. In my perceived view of our conversation, and what I had learned of them, they wanted to believe that in order to keep things the same way. By thinking we don’t have free will, it can be used as excuse to stop changing, to stop learning, to stop acting. In this person, that’s exactly what I saw, and perhaps it was depression, or something deeper, or something more surface level, it didn’t matter. They had chosen a path where they could keep doing things the same way, because it would be easy, because actually fighting against that is hard. Fighting against what is the most natural, the easiest path, the laziest path, is incredibly difficult. It is stressful, and it feels impossible. Even if this is a Sisyphean nightmare, do you really prefer rolling up the boulder while feeling like you don’t have control over whether or not you roll it up, or would you prefer to believe you do have control, and you control whether you like it or not?
I’ve also touched upon acting instead of sitting, or basically, just doing things instead of thinking about doing things. Another pattern I’ve noticed is that many people who don’t believe we have free will spend their time thinking. They don’t actually do anything, and when questioned about this, they tell me that they don’t have a choice. I’m serious, these individuals believe that they don’t have the ability to change things, to choose a different path, and that the only path that exists for them is to think, because of the variables that have made them who they currently are. Do they not realize that it is a choice to be that type of person, and that they can choose to leave that space, if they wish? Why would they continually perpetuate that? Well, as said already, it is the easiest path, it is much easier to simply think than to have an impact on the external world.
I think media has promoted the idea that we don’t have control, that we don’t have free will, and this has impacted people on many levels. Even if they don’t focus on the fact that we don’t have free will, even in other things, such as making a change in the world, they believe they cannot do anything. Could you imagine a world where people didn’t think they could make a change in the past? Nothing would ever happen! If no one would fight back, there would be no movement, and all people would be going in the same direction, which is obviously not true! That is not something we can observe happening in the past nor is it happening in the present. We are all going in different directions, we all have our own beliefs, and we all make our own choices.
If you’re more of a conspiratory theorist, you might believe this type of rhetoric, of a deep nihilism and hopelessness, that we do not have control, as something created by the elite. You might believe that these ideas have been shared online, in movies, in shows, and in music, in order to make people think that things cannot change in the world. To make people believe things must stay the way that they are, and that they cannot have an impact, and that they cannot work together in order to change things, to make things better for them. It could make sense, but we have no way of proving this, but the idea is, to this person, the elite would do this in order to continually keep themselves in power, attaining more power, and decreasing the amount of power the individual alone has. While not totally bonkers, it’s not something I care for nor want to focus on, but it could be an interesting thought if evidence is brought forward of this actually happening, but that is incredibly unlikely. I mean, when one mentions, “elite,” what does that even mean?
Instead, I think this type of idea has been promoted as a result of a few different reasons. For one, I think the world has genuinely become worse in many ways for some people. The majority of people in the western world have lost power, not gained any, and continually have less purchasing power, and it is increasingly more difficult to live than in the past. The distribution of wealth continually showcases that smaller and smaller percentages of people hold the majority of wealth. Things like free speech are being brought into question, like the deletion or blockage of news sources or apps, which upsets the people, no matter what reasons the government might provide for their blockage. Misinformation is rampant, people not knowledgeable of topics talking of them, not sharing that they are human and have the possibility of failure, people not questioning those who share the information, and then of course, those who deliberately share disinformation.
These are just a few things that would make someone a bit cynical of the world, and of our ability to change things. If we could truly change things, wouldn’t we have done so? Well, perhaps, but wouldn’t the best way to create change be something along the lines of promoting a need for change, rather than a sadness and nihilistic view of the world? To some extent, many of those creating media don’t realize this is what they’re doing, because one doesn’t have to deliberately focus on the sadness or terribleness of the world to share it in their media. As a result of internalizing that, they take it in, and because they want to create, they put it out again, and this is something for other people to consume, and thus, the cycle repeats itself.
On the opposing side, for the one that believes we do have free will, I struggle to find things that would be undesirable as a result of their belief, but one that could be noted is that they would believe they have much more control than we actually do. I mean this in the sense that, someone who already holds the belief we have free will is more likely to believe we also have control over things we most definitely cannot control. They might say we can control the world around us without using our bodies or physical mediums, or control the thoughts of someone else with only our thoughts, and other eccentric and irrational ideas that don’t make sense nor are logical. As a result of these types of people holding this idea, there tends to be an association between free will and the people who are irrational, which makes the belief itself seem like something distasteful or unwanted.
This all leads up to the idea that we don’t have to be on either of these sides. We can instead believe that, we can have our belief of free will, think that we have control, and whether or not we do, as a result of thinking we do, we can do what we want. This is the most pragmatic choice, as it enables us to do the most. As shown already, by thinking we don’t have free will, we are more likely not to do anything, to be lazy, and not really do anything. However, if we were to think we can have control, and we can have an impact, then we genuinely do, because as a result of thinking we have those things, we act in accordance to that.
It doesn’t matter if you didn’t choose the things you want to do, or want to have, or whether you chose to be the person that you are, what matters is what you will do as a result of those things. It doesn’t matter if didn’t have control over the factors that built the current you, what matters is what you will do a result of that. It is undeniable we didn’t control over those factors, but if that’s all you hold onto, know that you’re choosing to hold onto those things, and you don’t have to. You can choose to hold onto new things, to learn new things, to act in new ways, and then continually move in a direction of new, rather than old.
By moving in a new direction, a direction that is not clear, a direction that is not a direction, by instead, a spiral of many different spirals, all going in their own directions; by choosing this, you can layer upon new experiences. Sure, all that has happened makes the you, you, but the reality is, we can change. Even if it is change in the sense that we have layered things on top of the old, after a certain amount of time, we cannot find the old, because it has been covered up by so much new, it might as well not be there, because our new references have covered what was once was, and what was new then, is old now, and we can continue this process for as long as we live.
By believing in these thoughts, these ideas, you can be someone who is not you, but someone else, and then that someone else will become another person, at an even later time. Yes, we could stagnate, and yes, we want to hold onto some parts of ourselves more than others, but we don’t have to. It’s okay to do so, but only if it is isn’t harming you. What do you think a therapist does? In one way, they enable you to acknowledge parts of yourself you are incapable of seeing, and then move on from that, to become someone who isn’t held down by those old parts of yourself; old traumas. It helps to have someone like that, but we are capable of doing this by ourselves, if we are willing to look within ourselves, and then exit ourselves, to then perceive more, to become seemingly more, to then shed the old, and continue the process, indefinitely.
Practically speaking, this stops you from being a static person who keeps things the same way, forever. It stops you from being a nihilistic person who thinks we cannot change. Not only this, it stops you from holding onto ideas like free will so strongly. This is the power of belief within the mind, because what happens in the mind is totally ours. We can do whatever we want inside of these minds of ours, and you shouldn’t ever let someone else tell you what to think, or what to feel, or how to do either of those. It is you who can choose what goes on in your mind, and you can choose what to do on the outside world as a result of your internal world! If you believe you have the power to make change, then you do. Yes, you have to be intelligent in how you execute that, you have to be rational, you have to think about how that will be done, and you must use logic, but the first step is believing that is even a possibility. If you don’t even consider it a possibility, then you absolutely do not have the power to make change, and then you won’t make change! It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, and is that all you want to be?
I sympathize with those who believe they cannot change things, that things must stay the same, and that they cannot do anything outside of what has been predestined to be. Why? I used to be that person, and I used to genuinely believe the same things, but I no longer do, because I chose to stop thinking that way. I fought against it, and didn’t let it eat me alive anymore. I wanted to do things, I wanted things to be better, and I wanted to have a world where I could have control, and it has ultimately worked. Do I still fall into those depressive times where I believe nothing can change, that all my effort has been worthless, and that I should stop trying to fight against the grain? Of course I do, but I’d rather fight rather than submit, because otherwise, why would I stick around? It hurts to not have control over many of your thoughts that want to tell you don’t have control, and it hurts me when they pop up, but you have to choose what to do in response to those thoughts. You have that control, and you have to admit you have it in order to move forward.
Lying in bed feeling depressed about the fact you cannot do things because you don’t have free will is easy in comparison to doing things. To making change, to fighting back, to making things different, to believing things can be different. It isn’t easy to make the change, and if you’re like me, and when you fall back into those old ways of thinking, it is torture. To feel like you cannot do anything, when you have seen yourself fighting back, even if only it were a single day prior. If you don’t want to believe you have free will, that’s fine, but if you want to think that way, please allow yourself to do things, to do what you want, rather than doing nothing. I know many of you out there want to do things, but feel like you cannot, but fight back, please.
Addressing free will in a pragmatic way can be summed up as doing things you want to do. You get there by believing in free will, and by believing in it, you can then act in accordance to being someone who believes in that idea. Generally, people who don’t believe in free will might have logical backing or proof to their belief, but they use it as an excuse to keep things the same. They don’t do what they want to do, but they do the easiest thing, which tends to be thinking, and being upset about things, and holding a generally pessimistic view on the world. Anyone can hold any type of belief, and by holding a certain belief, it can enable them to act in a certain way. In this case, it would enable the believer to have free will, because by believing in free will, one then has free will, simply as a result of that belief. Even if it doesn’t seem logical, by holding this belief, it could help you attain what you want, despite any nihilistic rhetoric you have been or are currently being exposed to. I want you to do the things you want to do, and I want you to continually form new things for you to want, and then execute. It won’t be easy, but if you must push up the boulder, push it up while believing that’s what you want, rather than pushing it up and thinking you don’t want it.