As far as I understand things, 2 isn’t true. We feel ourselves making decisions, but that is how the process feels from the inside. From the outside, it’s all done by all those atoms and particles inside our skulls, bouncing off each other in strict accordance with the laws of nature like so many tiny billiard balls, and so everything we do and think is the result of necessity. All the ambivalence we feel – should I choose lemon or mango ice cream? – also consists of patterns in the bouncing of the balls, all on their paths which have been determined by the ‘laws’ of nature since the Big Bang. Even though I feel myself making a decision – lemon ice cream! –, what I will decide has been determined by all the ball-bouncing that has been going on in the universe before the moment I decide. I could not possibly choose anything else.
Determinism is the outside view; free will is what it feels like from the inside. Right now I’m typing this comment, and it certainly feels to me like I am deciding what to say, i.e., I feel I have free will. Taking the outside view, what I’m writing has been inevitable since the Big Bang, i.e., it has been determined.
Oh, sorry! I misread your question. You’re asking if I think free will is an illusion. I guess you could say that yes, I think it doesn’t really exist, because we make decisions and take actions because of our thoughts and feelings, which are ultimately ‘just’ processes within our brains, which are subject to the laws of physics. Like I said, from the moment of the Big Bang it has been inevitable that I would come to write this comment. It’s mind-boggling, really. Also mind-boggling is the amount of time I’ve already spent writing and thinking about and rewriting (and rere[...]rewriting this comment, that’s why it is so late.
As far as I understand things, 2 isn’t true. We feel ourselves making decisions, but that is how the process feels from the inside. From the outside, it’s all done by all those atoms and particles inside our skulls, bouncing off each other in strict accordance with the laws of nature like so many tiny billiard balls, and so everything we do and think is the result of necessity. All the ambivalence we feel – should I choose lemon or mango ice cream? – also consists of patterns in the bouncing of the balls, all on their paths which have been determined by the ‘laws’ of nature since the Big Bang. Even though I feel myself making a decision – lemon ice cream! –, what I will decide has been determined by all the ball-bouncing that has been going on in the universe before the moment I decide. I could not possibly choose anything else.
How would you characterize your thoughts about free will then? Is it a mere illusion, or is there something genuine in it?
Determinism is the outside view; free will is what it feels like from the inside. Right now I’m typing this comment, and it certainly feels to me like I am deciding what to say, i.e., I feel I have free will. Taking the outside view, what I’m writing has been inevitable since the Big Bang, i.e., it has been determined.
That’s not quite an answer to my question.
Oh, sorry! I misread your question. You’re asking if I think free will is an illusion. I guess you could say that yes, I think it doesn’t really exist, because we make decisions and take actions because of our thoughts and feelings, which are ultimately ‘just’ processes within our brains, which are subject to the laws of physics. Like I said, from the moment of the Big Bang it has been inevitable that I would come to write this comment. It’s mind-boggling, really. Also mind-boggling is the amount of time I’ve already spent writing and thinking about and rewriting (and rere[...]rewriting this comment, that’s why it is so late.