THE free will delusion has been a stumbling block in the way of human
thought for thousands of years. Let us try whether common sense and
common knowledge cannot remove it.
Free will is a subject of great importance to us in this case; and it is
one we must come to with our eyes wide open and our wits wide awake; not
because it is very difficult, but because it has been tied and twisted
into a tangle of Gordian knots by twenty centuries full of wordy
but unsuccessful philosophers, The free will party claim that man is
responsible for his acts, because his will is free to choose between
right and wrong.
We reply that the will is not free; and that if it were free man could
not know right from wrong until he was taught.
As to the knowledge of good and evil the free will party will claim
that conscience is an unerring guide. But I have already proved that
conscience does not and cannot tell us what is right and what is wrong:
it only reminds us of the lessons we have learnt as to right and wrong.
The "still small voice" is not the voice of God: it is the voice of
heredity and environment.
And now to the freedom of the will.
When a man says his will is free, he means that it is free of all
control or interference: that it can over-rule heredity and environment.
We reply that the will is ruled by heredity and environment.
The cause of all the confusion on this subject may be shown in a few
words.
When the free will party say that man has a free will, they mean that he
is free to act as he chooses to act.