THE FIGHT FOR FREE WILL: A NEW WRINKLE

by

Glenn Statile 

1)      THE FINAL FRONTIER

The issue of free will continues to attract attention in philosophical circles despite the fact that its relationship to its original sparring partner no longer inspires much more than a mere scholarly curiosity.  What began as a problem pitting the foreknowledge of God against the existence of a volitional faculty now thrives as a compelling contest between free will and scientific determinism.  But relatively recently it seems that this second stage in the centuries old debate over free will has entered an entirely new phase, a phase that might very well represent the final frontier for research into the problem of volition.  This phase, or new wrinkle, is marked by a scientific foray into the inner sanctum of the brain itself.

            It is convenient to divide the scientific or post-foreknowledge stage of the free will problem into three distinct, but not discontinuous phases or categories.  

1)        Newtonian:  According to a LaPlaceian or mechanistic view of the world, the elaboration of Newtonian science strictly determines all behavior, for man is thought to be a machine which obeys the laws of physics.  Early in the last century Newtonian

             determinism gave way to its post-Newtonian or relativistic successor.

2)        Quantum:  Prediction is based upon probabilities which are restricted by the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.  Quantum fluctuations yield a kind of volitional wash.  On the one hand they allow for a future whose horizon of probable outcomes is open.  On the other hand they ensure that the random firings of neurons could never be fully under conscious control.