We observe in children and sometimes in adults atypical
forms of conduct that we ascribe to fatigue (the child is fussy because he has
missed his nap) or to nervous strain (the adult blows his top or takes to
alcohol). The individuals in question are acting voluntarily and may
well believe that their choices are uncaused. We know better. We know what the
causes are, and we know that they do not recognize them. Although it is easy to
see this in the case of other people, there is a tendency to overlook the fact
that the same is true of ourselves. We usually assume that nothing is
affecting our own will, just because we are not conscious of the causality.
But how could we be sure that there is no cause? What conditions would have to
be met before we could know that nothing is determining our choices? Not only
would we have to eliminate the possibility of fatigue and nervous strain, but
we would have to eliminate other factors that are neither so easily examined
after we think of them nor so easily thought of in the first place. There are minute physiological conditions beyond our usual or possible
range of attention. Some incipient disease may be affecting our minds. There
are also external meteorological factors, for admittedly unpleasant weather is
depressing. And can we be sure that a sunspot, whose existence we do not
suspect, leaves us unaffected? Even though the will is not mechanically
determined, these external conditions as well as our physiology seem to
alter our conduct to some extent. More important than physiology and
astronomy is psychology. May there not be some subconscious jealousy that
motivates our reactions to other people? Why do we eat chocolate sundaes when
we know that we should reduce? Are we free from the influence of parental
training? The Scriptures say, "Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it." [Proverbs 22:6] Parental
training and all education proceed on the assumption that the will is
not free, but can be trained, motivated, and directed. Finally, beyond both
physiology and psychology there is God. Can we be sure that he is not
directing our choices? Do we know that we are free from his grace? The Psalm
says, "Blessed is the man whom you choose and cause to approach you."
[Psalm 65:4] Is it certain that God has not caused us to choose to approach
him? Can we set a limit to God's power? Can we tell how far it extends and
just where it ends? Are we outside his control?
The conclusion is evident, is it not? In order to know that
our wills are determined by no cause, we should have to know every
possible cause in the entire universe. Nothing could be allowed to escape
our mind. To be conscious of free will therefore requires omniscience.
Hence there is no consciousness of free will; what its exponents take as
consciousness of free will is simply the unconsciousness of determination.
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