The problem of Free-Will

In the current image of the world provided by physics, we have at one side, an apparent fuzzy determinism, because the universe is chaotic; at the other end we get indeterminism. What can we say about human freedom?

Free-Will, as envisioned by classical philosophers, is incompatible with determinism. But it would be a mistake to assume that it is the same as quantum indeterminism. When a radioactive atom disintegrates, it is not free; it is subject to the influx of probability. One atom may disintegrate ten times later than another, but its longevity has not been chosen individually, it is the result of the play of blind forces which, on the average, produce the effect that one half of the atoms must disintegrate in a perfectly defined time.

Are human beings free? Obviously we are determined by many factors: our genes, the education we received, our personal history. But at bottom we are sure that we have a certain freedom to choose. All the structure of our society would break down if this were not true. Thus even the most fervid opponents of the real existence of human freedom speak and act constantly as though they believed in Free-Will.

Many scientists deny the existence of human freedom. Against all the fundamental tenets of the scientific method, they put theories before facts and deny the existence of a phenomenon they cannot explain. It must be noted, however, that human freedom can be the subject of experiments. Actually, every scientific experiment makes use of the freedom of the experimenter.

Since human freedom does not seem compatible with macroscopic determinism or with microscopic indeterminism, let us do what is usually done in science in such a situation: postulate the existence of a new unknown field, open to exploration. This was done, for instance at the end of the nineteenth century by Henri Becquerel when he discovered radioactivity; by Max Planck with the theory of quanta; by Albert Einstein with the two theories of relativity. Thus we can postulate that the deep structure of the universe is not a segment with two ends; let us add a dimension and propose that it looks like a triangle with three vertices.

Chaotic determinism, quantum indeterminism and free will make the three vertices of a triangle, two of them located in the material world (thus subject to the study of science), while the third enters as a spearhead in the supernatural world.

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Manuel Alfonseca

This is a part of an article which was published in Spanish in the magazine Religión y Cultura, Vol. LIII:240, Jan.-Mar. 2007, pp. 137-153.