Condensed Notes On Free Will

Tags: theory of mind,personal philosophy

Long-form hand-written version of these notes can be found on: google drive, page 3

Table of contents

• Do people have free will
• Questions raised
• Attempts to answer

Do people have free will

There’s a very simple argument in opposition of free will: actions always have consequences, and as a result, not only does the past define both the present and the future, but in theory there is a single first moment that defines all moments afterwards. There is the problematic question of “what was before that first moment, or is this simply eternal in some sense?” to deal with, but in general, this premis seems to gel well with the big bang, and stuff like that.

One obvious rebuttal to this argument is that no, actions don’t have clear effects, and as a result, due to quantum mechanics. But that really doesn’t answer the question of free will. If everything we do is due to random quantum fluctuations, then we aren’t truly making our own decisions. We don’t have agency.

Questions raised

• Does the question matter?
• What does it mean, “to have control of our actions”, “agency”?
• If we do “have control”, where does it come from? Is it inherent to humans? What type of animal or object does, and doesn’t ; what are its bounds?
• Do computers have control?

In order to simplify both the thinking of and writing about this “sense of control”, I’ll change the vocabulary to “agency” from here on out.

• If we don’t have agency, does that even matter? We might continue to act as if we do.
• Would we still operate under the assumption that we do.
• What does that mean re: the importance attributed to actions, if they will or won’t happen anyways?

Attempts to answer

Does the question matter?

In a sense, no. People would probably continue to act as if we do have agency. todo

What does it mean, “to have control of our actions”, “agency”?

I think that the layman’s definition for agency is: ability to be a cause. In a sense, the question about free will is the question about causation.

If we do “have control”, where does it come from? Is it inherent to humans? What type of animal or object does, and doesn’t ; what are its bounds?

Do computers have control?