Freedom: So What?

The question of whether or not we truly have free will is a very difficult philosophical question. The interface between acting agent and the world provides a host of philosophical conundrums. Nevertheless there is one thing we know for sure: for all intents and purposes we appear to be free. We appear to be free to choose what we do, what we like, what we aspire to, etc. We also appear to have a certain degree of control over the world around us. We act in the world and realise the ends we are pursuing and so it seems to us that we can dictate the course of events and control precisely what happens and how it happens. Upon closer examination however it becomes apparent that our control over the world around us is tenuous at best.

The Issue of Control

Philosophical questions about the coherence of free will aside, our tenuous control over the course of events in the world poses an interesting question to our freedom. This question arises when we consider the nature of events. Any event appears to be the result of a large kaleidoscope of factors, all working together to produce an effect in the world. The individual agency of a single person is only ever a tiny subset of these factors. If this was not the case it would be completely inexplicable why so many things happen to us that we would not choose in a thousand years. Life is very often more an attempt to deal with and come to terms with things we did not plan for or choose than it is a matter of realizing our plans. For something to go exactly as planned a large host of things which are completely beyond any individual’s ability to control must collude to facilitate the realization of the plan, “the best laid plans of mice and men”. Given this it is actually slightly bizarre to congratulate oneself when things go according to plan. Anything going according to plan just seems to me to be closer to a happy accident than a true illustration of the efficacy of human agency.

If this is true about our apparent control over the course of events, it poses a serious question about the significance of our free will. Even if we do really have wills that can determine themselves and hence have the genuine capacity to choose the course of action we adopt without being determined by external factors, we really should ask: what value does our freedom truly have for us? Our freedom is like the freedom of the ant who chooses to avoid getting stepped on. Of what consequence is the ant’s choice when I choose to step on it? Of what consequences are any of our choices in a world where the realisation of that choice depends to a very large extent on factors beyond our control?

The Value of Freedom

If freedom means having a degree of control over the course of events in the world then it seems our freedom doesn’t amount to very much at all. Freedom is only valuable to us if it does something other than allow us to control the course of events in the world. The Stoics are very helpful in understanding what else a free will does for us. A free will is not good for us because it allows us to control the course of events, it is valuable to us because it allows us to control our orientation to the course of events in the world.

In one sense we have absolutely insignificant levels of control over what happens in the world, but in another sense we have complete control. We have very little control over dictating the actual course of events but we have complete control over what we make of those events. Not to sound too cliched, but we all have the ability to define our world and it is in this ability that true human freedom lies. If something that we really don’t want is inevitable we can choose, however difficult it might be, to come to terms with it.

We actually have a couple of options here. We can choose to define it in such a way that it becomes something good. Failing that we can choose to re-evaluate whats important to us so that whatever it is fits seemlessly into our lives and we move on. We can choose to willingly suffer it for some other benefit it might bring us. All of these choices do not actually involve choosing to change the thing that has happened. All of these options which actually involve the true exercise of our free will are not possible if we doggedly will that things happen/happened otherwise. If we can’t let go of the desire to control the course of events, we can’t enjoy the benefits of having a free will.

What’s important to understand here is that freedom is not a matter of what you do, it s a matter of what you choose. You can choose to come to terms with something whilst still acting to change it. You can act to change it because you deem that doing so is an appropriate course of action. But this does not mean that you should will with the full force of a fixated desire that things should be otherwise.

This ability does however need to be cultivated. The natural human tendency is to desire to control the course of events, even when it is apparent that it is beyond our control. We try and ensure things happen and we see fit. But this actually forms the crux of the challenge of being human. The challenge of being human is the challenge of coming to terms with a world that is vastly bigger than us and is something that we have no control over.