What is Choice?

1. What is Choice? Feraco Search for Human Potential 6 December 2010

2. First Ideas • 1. Choices determine actions • 2. Actions have consequences • 3. Consider consequences before acting • 4. Make choices that improve your life • 5. Make choices that improve the lives of friends / family members • 6. Make choices that benefit your society / environment

3. Fundamental Assumptions • These teachings rely on the assumption that we live in a universe in which choices matter, in which free will reigns supreme • Obviously, you don’t have to choose to breathe, or to make your heart beat at a certain rate • Those things are just unconscious responses to stimuli • That, however, is why we think choices have value • It’s what allows the “actor” (i.e., the person making the decision) to do something that exceeds/differs from an automatic response • This makes us worth more than our machines • But what if we’re working with incorrect assumptions?

4. Universal Causality • Universal causality (abbreviated as “UC,” and also called “determinism”) questions those assumptions • UC proponents assert that every effect has a cause, which is in turn the effect of another cause • One wonders what the original “cause” was! • Because cause/effect sequences aren’t isolated, they bleed into one another continuously • Hence the “universal” in UC • Therefore, everything that occurs (including every “choice”) simply represents the inevitable after-effect of some seen/unseen cause

5. UC Continued • If that’s the case, UC proponents continue, we actors aren’t making choices • We’re simply vessels for cause/effect delivery, the means by which the universe maintains itself • We’re deceiving ourselves if we believe our “choices” allow us to do something other than we were “meant” to do through cause and effect • This was Einstein’s world-view

6. The Deity Argument • The deity in question is omnipotent and omniscient (all-powerful and all-seeing), which makes said deity infallible • As an all-seeing being, it sees the future – and as an infallible being, it sees it unerringly • But since the deity can’t possibly be wrong about the future, we are only capable of what it already sees, and can’t possibly do otherwise

7. The Logic Argument • This argument rests on the Excluded Middle and Noncontradiction Laws • The former states that absolutes exist for every proposition • Either P or Not P is true, with no middle ground (hello, Baselines!) • The latter merely states that P and Not P can’t logically be true at the same time

8. The Logic Argument Cont’d • Let our proposition (P) be “Sean, you’re going to fail your final tomorrow.” • He either will or won’t; obviously, he can’t fail and pass simultaneously • If P is a true statement, nothing that happens between now and tomorrow will stop him from failing • If P is untrue…well, nothing that between now and tomorrow will stop him from succeeding

9. The Logic Argument Cont’d • It looks like Sean has two “options” • Either he’ll pass, or he’ll fail • However, we’ve already established that only one can be true • Therefore, one of the “options” is necessarily false – a fake choice • Since only one of the options is really present, Sean is powerless to choose the other • In order to be free, you have to have choices – and Sean doesn’t really have them • Scary!

10. So Free Will Doesn’t Exist? Thanks for Ruining Monday… • Not necessarily! People have arguments for free will as well • For the “deity” argument, we assume the being can perfectly see the things it controls • Because it knows its creations, it can accurately predict any possible choice one could make in response to a given situation…but that’s exactly why it can still grant us free will

11. The Chess Player • Think of a great chess player • He sees the endgame, predicts the actions of the other player, and brings about the steps to make that endgame real • But he doesn’t need to absolutely control the actions of the other player (move his pieces) in order to make it happen • “We are responsible human beings, not blind automatons; persons, not puppets. By endowing us with freedom, God relinquished a measure of his own sovereignty and imposed certain limitations upon himself.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

12. What About Sean? • As for the “logic” scenario, let’s say that Sean really, really doesn’t want to fail his final • Let’s also say he’s “destined” to pass. (Whew.) • Does this really mean he has no choice? • After all, there are different ways to pass • Sean can study alone, study with friends, speak with his instructor (always a good idea), or even cheat (tsk tsk) • In any case, Sean still has choices within his outcome! • You know you’re going to eat, but you don’t necessarily know what you’ll eat – and that decision could very well be yours after all! • Is that the definition of free will?

13. Arguments Favoring Free Will • As previously stated, determinists argued that your only free actions are ones you do without cause • But since the Ds believe in UC, everything has a cause – so, in short, you can’t do anything freely • Indeterminists also argue that your only free actions are ones you do without cause – “uncaused” free actions • However, they say, we’re obviously free, so why buy into any argument that tries to convince that what you know to be true isn’t – especially since UC isn’t really a scientific principle? • I’m going to be honest: I don’t like the incurious attitude of “Well, this is obvious, so I’m going to ignore everything to the contrary”…but your mileage may vary

14. Arguments Favoring Free Will • Compatibilists argue that free acts can be taken as long as their cause lies in the inner state of the person – a desire, an intention, etc. • Free will, in essence, lines up with UC nicely – because our inner choices/causes determine our will • Finally, agents argue that free acts are caused by agents (i.e., people) • UC exists, in that every event has a cause – but not every cause is an event itself • Some things have very short causal histories – not every event has a seemingly infinite number of causes linking to it

15. Argh!!! Does It Exist? Just Tell Me! Please? • No. • (I can’t tell you. What makes you think I know?) • But the Choice vs. Destiny discussion is worth having, and not just because it doesn’t have a pre-determined (pre-destined???) conclusion • These questions force us to evaluate just how we wish to go through life – not simply whether we can decide what we do, but whether we live while doing so • After all…is it possible to be passively happy?