Holbach: Illusion Of Free Will

We Must Believe In Free Will; We Have No Choice

Analyzing our individual free will can be very intriguing. There are many sides to this debate, and you must take them all into account to fully understand whether or not we truly have free will. In doing so, one can almost reach the point of free will being paradoxical. Ultimately, free will determines the level of responsibility we claim for our actions. Obviously, if outside forces determine our choices, we cannot be held responsible for our actions. However, if our choices are made with total freedom than certainly we must claim responsibility for our choices and actions. This is exactly the point that Paul Henri D'Holbach made in writing his essay, "The Illusion of Free Will."

Free will is the philosophical doctrine that the choices we make are completely under our own control. Consequently, a choice we make that isn't under our own control must somehow be determined by something else. That something else, according to D'Holbach, is an external or internal force which actually drives humans to make certain choices. D'Holbach states that man is never a free agent. We are never a truly free agent because we're never truly free. As hard as that is to accept, D'Holbach says we must accept it because it is true. We were not free to choose whether or not we wanted to be born, and even still, now, when we think ourselves to be independent, free adults, we are not. This is because everything we think; everything that comes to our minds; every single decision is influenced by something. D'Holbach defines free will as the original or primary cause of your actions. To an extent, D'Holbach has negated the theory that free will exists in saying that our will is a secondary cause of our actions. He doesn't go as far as to say that every thought is predetermined for us, but he does believe the choices we make are not completely up to us; there is a force independent from what we want that urges us to make the decisions we make. However, if he is correct in saying that our choices are predetermined by ourselves based on what we already know, then, we must not have free will. Rather, we must not have total free will that enables us to do anything we truly want to do. A good example of this is D'Holbach's anecdote on the poisoned water. Say, there is a man who is dying of thirst. His throat and mouth are dry to a crisp, and it would be safe to say that this man will do anything for a glass of water. Miraculously, the man finds cool refreshment, but learns that this refreshment is poisoned. He, then, is forced to not drink the water. The man understands that drinking this poison will kill him. He must look out for his own health. Another example is a woman going to a store to buy a dress. She has the choice of picking the red dress or the black dress and can't decide. She then proceeds in asking her best friend, someone she holds dear to her heart, what dress she should get. Her friend then tells her to get the black dress because black is slimming. The woman thinks a bit, then finally decides on the black dress. This is a really simple example; however, try to look deeper into it. From that point on, that woman will be affected by that decision. She will know that black is slimming on her and relate that to any future purchases. Whenever buying clothes, she will think, "this is a nice color, but black makes me look slimmer." Even if she does choose the red dress someday, it is only because she thinks she looks better in it. And yet, that is still not her free will decision. Why? Because she is defining what looks good based on what society tells her about beauty and fashion. Therefore, she is influenced by society. D'Holbach understands this to be the illusion of free will.

I guess I am tied on the free will debate. It's difficult to side with just one argument because the definition of free will seems to change from philosopher to philosopher. Some think we do have free will, and I would agree that to some extent we do. Even though we are constrained by societal laws stating we cannot