238 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”(5) If free will is “free,” can it happen without a cause? Self, defined as a
system that seeks its own perpetuation, is a basic principle permeating all life
forms. The craving for perpetuation is a default cause of all human activities.
Therefore, from the perspective of “self,” free will as a human act always carries
an implicit cause, no matter how “free” it appears.
11.1 To Will or Not to Will?
Consider this scenario. Two men are walking on a road, debating whether
free will is real. The first believes that people do have free will; the sec-
ond denies it, insisting that it is just an illusion in a causal world. Then
suddenly a boulder comes rolling down the road, giving them only two
seconds to act. The first quickly escapes to safety by jumping to one side.
What do you think the second will do? If he ignores the impending dan-
ger and does nothing, letting the event take its course, he will be killed.
But if he also jumps out, he will be admitting that in this instance a little
free will makes a difference between life and death.
We like to be in control of our own bodies, not just be puppets with
invisible strings attached to our extremities. As William James said, “The
whole sting and excitement of our voluntary life depends on our sense
that in it things are really being decided from one moment to another,
and that it is not the dull rattling off of a chain that was forged innu-
merable ages ago.”^1 This morning I deliberately chose tea over coffee,
and I believe this simple decision was not preconditioned by what my
cave-dwelling forebears did twenty thousand years earlier, nor was it a
remote consequence of quantum fluctuations in the beginning of time.
To be sure, whereas the entire physical world appears to be locked in a
deterministic chain, we humans seem to be able to disobey this ironclad
predestination. Is this self-deception? In the objective sense, free will
is the unpredictable element in a person’s behavior as it appears to an
observer. For example, a person can choose to act contrary to common
sense, like giving away good food while going on starving. Looking at
lower animals, a turkey can veer to the left or right unpredictably as you
chase it for the Thanksgiving meal.