If my mind is tricking me into believing things that aren't real, it could be that I have no free will.
I believe that I made the choice to have french toast for breakfast this morning, but if that french toast wasn't even real and it was all a product of my mind's tricks, then I didn't even eat french toast. If I didn't eat french toast, then my choice to eat french toast is void. I couldn't have made a choice if it was already decided for me that I wasn't going to eat anything.
So maybe if my thoughts are all that is real, then my life is ruled by determinism.
But if my subconscious, or the part of my mind that is tricking me, counts are part of me, then it's possible that I do have free will. Since my mind is tricking me and making all of the decisions for me, it has free will. My mind is a part of me, so therefore I have free will.
Regardless of whether or not your thoughts are real, the universe is more likely deterministic. Additionally, given that you do not have power over your subconscious, if it is controlling you then you are not a subject of free will because you have no power to change what you think. Also, the very act of having made a decision doesn't meant that something has free will. The question, then, is what is causing your subconscious to deceive you as it does. If we can decided that it is a bunch of electric signals, which are governed by the universe, we can also decide that you do not have free will because the predetermined movement of electrons is what is causing you to act as you are.
ReplyDelete