Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology at Stanford University, claims that his research reveals that there is no such thing as free will; that all our choices are determined by our genetics, experience, and environment.
Perhaps he has not considered all the available evidence.
John Horgan, a science journalist, says, “But Sapolsky hasn’t proved that free will is illusory; he has merely confirmed that it exists on a sliding scale.” Which is a much more realistic appraisal.
What is meant by “free will?” One standard definition is “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.”
What is meant by a “sliding scale?” This is another term for “gradient scale”, which is a gradual increasing or decreasing degree of something.
The term “free will” has some religious overtones. We need another neutral term here, which is “self-determinism.” This is an individual’s ability to direct themself; as opposed to “other-determinism”, which occurs when someone or something else determines what an individual thinks, says or does.
We should be able to see immediately that self-determinism, and thus the related free will, is a gradient scale. The top of the scale would be an individual making all thoughts, decisions and actions solely by themself. The bottom of the scale would be all of an individual’s thoughts, decisions and actions made for them solely by someone or something else. In the (hugely) extensive middle of this scale would be an individual having thoughts and making decisions and actions partly on their own determinism and partly from the input and influence of others.
The most important aspect of Education is to increase the self-determinism of the individual. In fact, the common denominator of all life impulses is self-determinism. This is the opposite of non-living physical universe objects – i.e. non-living objects have no self-determinism, as they are unthinking things.
For convenience, humans can adopt habits, which are automatic mechanisms to accomplish thoughts, decisions and actions on a repetitive basis, without having to determine each one with a new conscious effort. Necessarily they reduce some self-determinism in return for efficiency, or to relieve the boredom of repetition. However, it was a self-determined effort that established the habit in the first place.
What Does This Have To Do With Psychiatry?
Psychiatric thought complicates this whole discussion by relating free will to mental health or mental illness. For example, one psychiatrist says that mental disorders are conditions that compromise free will; but of course concluding that further research is necessary.
Another psychiatrist finds that mental health professionals’ beliefs concerning free will can influence their clinical practice.
Another psychiatrist calls it “the dangerous illusion of free will,” saying that there cannot be free will since a person cannot just decide not to have a mental illness.
The point here is that psychiatry in general is as confused by “free will” as the rest of society. Placing one’s trust in psychiatry is as misplaced as saying either it is all and only free will, or there is no free will.
There doesn’t have to be such confusion. A way out is to recognize the gradient scale nature of self-determinism, and take the necessary actions to increase it with education.