Life without free will: Does it preclude possibilities?

Abstract

In this partial precis of my recent book (Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, 2023), I argue against the existence of free will, based on the clarity with which we are nothing more than the sum of the densely intertwined biology, over which we had no control, and its interactions with the environment over which we also had no control. Despite this, the vast majority people, including philosophers and psychologists, believe that free will is compatible with our materialist world. I suggest that this arises from, (a) the intense intuitive feeling of agency experienced when we form an intent and act upon it; (b) the examples of people who effortfully rise above their circumstances (or, conversely, who squander their opportunities) are so powerful and compelling that we decide that tenacity and willpower are not made of biology; (c) misinterpretation of the recent revolutions of chaoticism, emergent complexity, and quantum indeterminacy; and (d) difficulty in reconciling that the future is both deterministic and unpredictable. Finally, I suggest that a rejection of free will, rather than leading to an array of societal and existential ills, would be profoundly liberating.