Free Will (MOC)
Notes
Free Will is the idea that we can be the causal factor for our actions, and that our reasons for choosing are (or at least can be) independent (at least somewhat) from external factors (Agency ). For example, we can say that a computer program have no free will. Similarly, we usually believe that certain drugs or diseases can remove your ability to enact your free will. The line starts to be blurry the more we know about Human Brain and the lead causes of our actions. We are affected by our hormones, by Peer Pressure, by the education we grew up in, our environment and so much more. Considering all this, do we still have free will? Those who believe in Determinism think not, that all we are are pinballs jumping around due to the forces that operate on us.
However, those who support Compatibilism thinks that free will can exist simultaneously with a determined world. For example, on the individual (cell) level we might see only a "determined" world, but perhaps free will is an Emergence property of life, that through collective action we are capable of free will.
Perhaps having free will requires certain conditions, for example to have sufficient knowledge about external forces that try to affect us and how to be resistant of them (free will is knowledge ). Freedom, perhaps, lies on having and actualizing Second order thinking, which is to want our desires to be the way that they are, or to change them. For example, an addict might want to smoke, but in reality he wishes that he won't want to smoke. If he could actualize this desire and stop wanting to smoke, we can say that he is free.
Free will also relates to the issue of blame and praise. If we are just objects that are forced to act in certain ways because of variables outside of their control, why should be blamed or phrased by the things we do? Like praising a stone that managed to hit the ground while falling. In that sense, it is logical to claim that What we do is not who we are , because our inner thoughts could be separated from what we are forced doing.
However, some believe that there is no symmetry between blaming and praising. if we are passive we can be a slave to defaults and end up doing bad things, but to have free will means to choose what you are affected by, and by choosing to follow the right reasons is worthy of praise, even if doing bad things doesn't deserve blame.