Do human beings have free will? Or are we completely determined by the circumstances of our surroundings and the “wiring” of our brains? 

As Anthony Gottlieb explains in a recent post at More Intelligent Life, these are not new questions. Since the days of the Greeks, philosophers, theologians, and scientists have puzzled over the question of why we do the things we do.

And in every generation the threat has been present that human beings may not actually be free. Whether our actions are determined by atoms, spirits, social influences, or the neurons and chemicals in our brains, it can seem as though we are compelled in our choices and actions by things over which we have no ultimate control.

Neuroscience is the latest discipline to cast doubt on the freedom of the will. Studies appear with regularity touting experiments which seem to show that we only decide or act after the neurons of our brains begin to respond to stimuli beyond the reach of conscious thought. In effect, we decide and begin to act before we are able to think about what we’re doing. If this is true it makes it difficult to believe that something like free will or moral responsibility actually exists.

But Mr. Gottlieb reports that “there is a growing realisation among some neuroscientists that looking at flickers of activity inside our heads can be a misleading way to see how our minds work.” He summarizes the findings of two recent books on neuroscience in which the authors argue for the priority of conscious deliberation over the prompts of electricity and chemistry in the brain. According to the authors of these books, “although our mental lives depend on the brain, it doesn’t necessarily follow that our behavior is best understood by looking inside it.”

Watching brain activity on brain scans is a very reductionistic way of trying to account for human behavior. There is no doubt that the brain is involved in our choices and actions. That’s not the issue. The issue is more chicken-and-egg: Which comes first? The stimuli in the brain or the conscious deliberation of the human subject? If the former, then it’s so long to free will.

Mr. Gottlieb is among the growing number of those who are not willing to surrender the idea of free will. He believes that “it would be crazy to think that conscious deliberation” is not primary in our decisions and actions.

But that simply begs the question of what we mean by “consciousness.” Is this something that exists apart from the brain? Above the brain? Through but separate from the brain? And what is consciousness? Is it simply thoughts untethered to brain cells? Does it include affections? Values? Priorities? And, if so, where are these things housed?

In a materialistic age such as ours it’s going to be difficult to hold on to free will – and moral responsibility – apart from belief in reality beyond that which we can see, feel, hear, taste, or touch. Unless there is something other than material being – let’s call it spiritual reality – in which to locate thinking, feeling, valuing, willing, and the like, then it’s just a matter of time until the neuroscientists have their way and free will becomes a thing of the past.

The implications of this for such areas as jurisprudence – how can you convict criminals who have no moral responsibility for their actions? – and child-rearing – can there be anything like right or wrong when everything reduces to stimulus-and-response? – are radical.

The Christian knows there’s more to conscious deliberation than “little grey cells.” The onus is upon us to demonstrate, by our lives and teaching, that the world of the soul and God is real, and that without it, we are all little more than slaves to our circumstances.

But whether or not we choose to engage this conversation will depend on how freely and responsibly we exercise our own moral duty toward our neighbors and society.

Related texts: Psalm 8; Proverbs 14.12; Matthew 12.22-29; 2 Corinthians 10.3-5

A conversation starter: “Is there such a thing as ‘free will’? If so, where does it reside? How does it work? And how can we know it?”

T. M. Moore, Principal

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