Mis-Identification of What Free Will - Essay Example

It is this gap, according to Searle that makes individuals believe that they have the freedom of will. In his observation therefore, whether free will exists or not is an open question but the idea that it may be absent is more appealing given that it makes the feeling that freedom does exist a secondary phenomenon (Searle, p.32). Free will is the apparent ability of agents to make their own choices from several kinds of constraints. Generally, these constraints have always been metaphysical.

The test of free will has always been the question as to whether in choosing to do something; an individual would have chosen another option. Chances are holding everything constant, including the will, the choice would probably be the same. The issue that surrounds this concept is two-sided. The concept of being free is normally free. It depends on what a person is free to do, or is free from. With an additional concept of constraint and ability, free develops the idea that it could only apply in a given context.

Therefore, absolute freedom from everything or to do everything denies the concept of having an identity. This applies to all the abilities that an agent possesses. Consequently, the choices we make are not free from such things as the knowledge we have, the values we hold, or the perceptions of the environment and ourselves. Therefore, for free will to exist, it should not be considered by eliminating the influences of such factors but in reviewing the choices that one can ably make; as there is no freedom from these influences.

On the other hand, determinism is the concept that the events that occur within a given paradigm are bound by a cause in a way that every state is to some extent determined by previous states. In physics, this principle is often referred to as the cause-and-effect principle. In philosophy, the term explains the concept that every event including even those that involve human beings are usually determined by other events. This is often contrasted with free will. Proposers of determinism believe that any system that is determined is governed fully by causal laws.

Because of this concept, there could only be one option at every point in the system. The opposing positions that have created this debate come from the claim that determinism is false and for that reason, free will does exist, or there is a possibility of it existing on one hand; and those that claim that determinism is true and therefore free will cannot exist on the other. This debate is what gave birth to the concept of compatibilism. Compatibilism is the belief that determinism and free will are two compatible ideas and therefore, there is a possibility of believing in both without actually being inconsistent logically.

Generally, those who propose this idea define free will in such a manner that it allows it to exist together with the idea of determinism. Under this concept, therefore, free will is taken to mean more or less the freedom to act according to the determined motives of an individual. According to Searle, the conscious, voluntary decision-making aspects of the brain or the mind are not deterministic. As stated above, the fundamental feature that is involved is the perceivable presence of a gap that occurs when one deliberates on what action to take between the cause at every stage and the stage at which the decision and the action occur.