Free Will & The Crux Of Moral Responsibility

The question of free will and the dilemma surrounding moral responsibility has been debated since the beginning of time. The belief in free will has underpinnings in divergent belief systems, both religious and philosophical.

Although some people believe the elements of free will are in the scientific realm, specifically biology and physics – I tend to believe that we are greater than the sum of our parts, so to speak. For instance, hooking up electrodes to the brain to show how we command ourselves to lift an arm, gives interesting insight into the brain, from decision making to muscle coordination. But it does nothing to address the intellect and emotion that drives complex decision-making.

Free will, to me, more importantly involves motive and intent. It stems from our mind and spirit, which is the part of us that leaves our physical bodies when we die. Our mind formulates morality, and is much greater and more ethereal than our physical brain. Some people do not believe human beings have souls or spirits. Therefore to them death is final, and without any kind of experiences beyond death.

Alternatively, we can choose to believe that the soul leaves the body and travels into the spiritual realm. Our beliefs are part of free will. We do not have to believe in life after death. We have no tangible way to prove it anyway. Therefore it is a belief born of free will, which does help to anchor the existence and importance of free will.

If one believes that free will is primarily physical, in that it gives us command over the functions of our bodies as we go about our daily routines – then free will (and all existence) dies when the physical body dies.

Under this physical and scientific belief system, free will is also severely affected, if parts of our bodies become injured or malfunction. But how can free will be free will – if it has constraints imposed upon us that are against our will? This further reinforces to me that free will is not tied to physicality.

One of the reasons I believe free will goes well beyond the physical realm is because it cannot be consistently applied to the functions of the physical body. For instance a paralyzed person may form the intent and choose to lift his or her leg, but it will not happen. There is no mind over matter when it comes to certain situations.

In my opinion, free will does apply to our physical bodies, but only to a certain extent. The essence of free will is within us. However our mind is not confined to our brain – and our sight is not confined to our eyes. Otherwise people would not be able to describe near death experiences. Likewise, intuition and prophetic visions have no physical explanations. Yet time and time again, we see examples of both.

The concept of fate and predestiny complicates our understanding of free will. How can we have free will if everything has already been decided? That’s the toughest question of all.

The first dilemma surrounding the belief in free will, is to decide if it is purely physical (scientific, biological, physics) from brain to action, with the sole purpose of directing how we function. The question that comes to mind if this is the case, is whether or not the genetic makeup, circumstances, and early life experiences cause one to have genetically pre-determined outcomes. So that pretty much eradicates the notion of free will. How can there be moral responsibility if there is no free will?

If it is true that everything has been predetermined, how can we also have free will? Free will is about making choices. Those choices are driven by both good and bad motives. The good motives would be fairness, consideration of others, helpfulness, dedication, hard working, constructive, being kind, loving, compassionate, forgiving, humble, law-abiding etc.

The bad motives are things like selfishness, disregard for the rights of others, harmful, accusatory, dishonest, greedy, mean, unlawful, exploitive, deceptive, arrogant, and so on.

If things are predetermined according to a divine plan – perhaps it is because we do not understand the overall plan. Therefore free will applies to our level of understanding and is hinged to our beliefs. This might explain how fate and free will can co-mingle in the bigger scheme of things.

There has never been a time in our lives, regardless of our age, where we have been faced with the dilemma of moral responsibility – than we are right now. The covid outbreak has rocked the world, and is testing our previous stance on the importance of free will, autonomy and self-determinism.

Without free will, there can be no moral responsibility. Without morality, we become depraved. Now is the time to evaluate our belief systems surrounding free will, because our democracy, common decency, and hope for rebuilding a stable economy are depending on our most deep-rooted belief systems.

We can no longer overlook or deny how interconnected we are, as we navigate our lives and the role we play during the short time we are here on this earth. The existence of an after-life probably means that we have some unfinished business – once we do make our final exit.

At least free will allows us to freely explore, on an intellectual and spiritual level, where it is we might be headed! Are we truly the captain of our own ships? Only until we hit a big storm or iceberg! But surely, nothing would stop us from doing our level best at steering that ship and trying to save ourselves. The death-defying enigma is that the essence of living, is ultimately found in how we face dying.

Yet hope is always something we can cling to – even though it can be as elusive as wrestling the wind…

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage (2020). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.