Isn’t this just a question about what we intuitively consider “part of ourselves”? All physical things influence our actions in one way or another, if nothing else through their gravitational pull on the atoms of our brains. Some of them, however, are running algorithms that we consider part of ourselves, such as desire, memory, and logical thought. Usually those parts, ie normally-functioning brains, are the largest influence on our actions. In the case of Alex, a bit that we don’t intuitively consider “part of Alex”, namely the tumour, has acquired an unusually large influence on him; hence the feeling that he has “less free will”. And I am not sure that this is wrong; it really does seem reasonable to consider the tumour as an outside actor with an unusually high degree of influence, and to act in accordance with the wishes of those physical things that we consider internal to Alex—ie the rest of his brain, which presumably wants the tumour gone.
Isn’t this just a question about what we intuitively consider “part of ourselves”? All physical things influence our actions in one way or another, if nothing else through their gravitational pull on the atoms of our brains. Some of them, however, are running algorithms that we consider part of ourselves, such as desire, memory, and logical thought. Usually those parts, ie normally-functioning brains, are the largest influence on our actions. In the case of Alex, a bit that we don’t intuitively consider “part of Alex”, namely the tumour, has acquired an unusually large influence on him; hence the feeling that he has “less free will”. And I am not sure that this is wrong; it really does seem reasonable to consider the tumour as an outside actor with an unusually high degree of influence, and to act in accordance with the wishes of those physical things that we consider internal to Alex—ie the rest of his brain, which presumably wants the tumour gone.