Self and Free Will 239“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to HumanityHumans enjoy many freedoms they take for granted until they
are taken away. No one is happy to be told what to eat, what to wear,
what to like and dislike, what to think, and how to act. Under the ban-
ner of freedom and liberty, countless people willingly face the firing
squad or walk up to the gallows. What makes freedom so precious
that some people value it above their own lives? Does freedom make
biological sense?
I shall start from the simple premise that all animals take actions,
directly and indirectly, for the benefit of self — their survival and repro-
ductive success. Free will makes these actions possible, and therefore is
favored by evolution. In this context I define free will as the ability to initi-
ate an action, in the absence of coercion, which entails a choice to act or not
to act, and to elect which of the alternative courses of actions to take. In the
subsequent sections I shall examine free will from multiple perspectives.
One topic I try to omit is the connection between free will and moral (or
social) obligation and legal responsibilities, as I hold such discussions futile
and irrelevant. Instead, in the next chapter I shall expound the evolution-
ary advantage of morality in the context of society as an expanded self.
11.2 When Is an Action Free?
My opinion is that since being free is a subjective feeling, any attempt at
an objective explanation is likely to be inadequate.^2 One could say that
an action is free if the agent could have done otherwise, in other words,
if he has a choice. But making a choice is not always free. For example,
if a person is held at gunpoint to surrender his money, he still can choose
to resist and be killed. He has a choice, but no common sense would
consider that a normal choice, since it is against biological instinct and
it is unlikely that he intends that to happen. My point is that an action is
free if it gives the executor a sense of agency. The sense of agency stems
from the ability to fulfill an urge to act, and the satisfaction of having it
carried out. (It should be noted that an urge not to act when conditions
are conducive to act, and an urge to suppress another urge, both qualify
as free will in this context.) Much suffering ensues when the impulse