Surname 1 Name and Surname ID no. ENG 101.XX Semra Kunt-Akbaş November 5, 2020 Final Draft Is There a Free Will? For thousands of years, people have wondered if individuals have free will. Different people have tried to find the answer with different types of arguments. In the past, they used to use philosophical and religious arguments. Today, with the help of the developments in science and technology, they use scientific arguments, which are more objective and can be proven with rational evidence. However, there is no certain answer for that question yet. Some people say that there should be a free will because people will not see themselves responsible for their actions and this will lead to a corruption in the society if people do not believe in free will. However, it can be argued that free will is an illusion because there are internal factors such as human neurology which affect the people’s choices. In addition, humans are vulnerable to manipulation, which makes their decisions dependent on other people. Some people suggest that free will cannot be an illusion, since our social structure depends on it. When people believe in free will, they become more likely to be morally responsible. Cave quotes an experiment conducted by Vohs and Schooler. In the experiment, scientists divided the test subjects into two groups and Surname 2 they gave a passage which was against free will to one group, and a neutral passage to the other one. Then the moral of each person was tested in various situations. The conclusion is that when people do not believe in free will, they become morally less responsible. They tend to cheat and steal because they think that, it is not their choice. Therefore, they are not responsible for these actions (2). Although there may be some problems when people do not believe free will, it is still more beneficial for humanity to not to believe free will because by this way we can approach more objectively to other people’s behaviors and we may understand the reasons behind their behaviors. If we accept that human behaviors are effects of some neurological functions, we can better understand the human brain and if we understand the reasons behind harmful actions for society maybe we can prevent these actions more permanently (Cave 4). We may find more effective cures for psychological problems and it can lead to more improvements in the society. Therefore, even if believing that people do not have free will can damage some social structures, in the long term it will cause more benefits to humanity. It can be suggested that everything including our decisions is a part of a cause and effect chain, therefore, free will is an illusion. We are not free to choose because there are internal reasons such as our brain structure affecting our choices. McLeod argues that we are nothing but “biological machines” since every behavior of us is an effect of our nervous system and hormones (1). It can be seen that; we are not as free as most people believe. We are mostly dependent on our brain and small changes in our brain structure can lead to serious differences in our personality. People can observe the effects of the change in the brain in their daily life. For example, when someone uses alcohol, there may be differences in that person’s character. S/he may become more aggressive and less self-controlled. Another Surname 3 example is that people use antidepressants to overcome depression. These drugs make change in brain and help people to be less depressed. These are simple examples from daily life. Furthermore, there can be more serious results as Cave implies “Cases of ordinary adults becoming murderers or pedophiles after developing a brain tumor demonstrate how dependent we are on the physical properties of our gray stuff” (1). Therefore, our behaviors are mostly related with our brain and they can be changed by changes in our brain structure. This situation contradicts with free will. Another reason why free will is an illusion is that, people are easy to manipulate, therefore, their choices do not exactly belong to them. Advertisements and propaganda govern their ideas in daily life. For thousands of years, authorities have used manipulation. However, today, it is more effective than ever because, with the developments in technology, the authorities can know what people tend to. They can specifically target the weak side of the people and manipulate them more easily (Harari 3). They can see what people buy online, which websites they spend time, what their opinions about different topics are. Thus, they can analyze the data they obtain from people and they can create more precise propaganda to individual people. For example, if someone has a prejudice against immigrants, it is more likely that this person sees news against immigration on the internet. This news is probably false and created by people against immigration (Harari 3). Eventually, this person will be more against immigration than before because of this false news. The important point is that, this person is manipulated and even if s/he does not realize that, his/her ideas about immigration do not belong to him/her. Thus, people tend to be easily manipulated and they do not have their own opinions about many thigs. Surname 4 They do not have free will because their choices are influenced by governments and companies. Briefly, there are strong arguments which are against free will. Although not believing in free will damages the social structure, it might eventually be more profitable for the humanity since we can better understand the reasons for people’s behaviors if we accept that every action of people is dependent on neurological functions. In addition, people are not free as they thought since their behaviors and decisions are mostly dependent on their brain. When there is a change in the brain structure, it can be observed that people’s personalities change too. Furthermore, people’s ideas are usually manipulated by propaganda and this can prevent them to have their own ideas. Therefore, free will is not real and every decision of us are dependent on various other factors. Surname 5 Works Cited Cave, Stephen. “There is no such thing as free will.” The Atlantic, June 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-asfree-will/480750/. Harari, Yuval Noah. “Yuval Noah Harari: the Myth of Freedom.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Sept. 2018, www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/14/yuval-noah-harari-the-new-threat-toliberal-democracy. McLeod, Saul. “Freewill vs Determinism.” Freewill and Determinism | Simply Psychology, 2019, www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html.
