Free will
Callahan, Sidney
he audience stared at the neurobiologist's slide photographs of a leech and a frog. "Now," we were told, "both of these organisms follow the Harvard Law of Animal Behavior: The animal...
...You must remember that my whole generation of psychologists was browbeaten with a behaviorist model of the world that denied free will to human beings...
...later, you can drive home virtually unconsciously...
...Nor can machines or robots make the type of human errors that come when you spontaneously drift off and stop paying attention or making an effort...
...To whom will I give my heart...
...No" is necessary for a mindful assent...
...This rational ability of the mind to take alternative perspectives means that an individual can then choose or create a new synthesis from different perspectives...
...Aha, thought I, have we just had a mini demonstration of the freedom of the will...
...I want to get a Ph.D...
...In In Defense of Human Consciousness (APA), Rychalk explores the crucial ability of human beings to reason...
...People think...
...Now," we were told, "both of these organisms follow the Harvard Law of Animal Behavior: The animal does what it damn well pleases...
...After the group had looked at some Eschef-like arrows that could be organized pointing either to the right as black arrows or to the left as yellow ones, the professor switched off the screen and instructed us that when the slide reappeared we could decide which way we were going to see the arrows pointing...
...Many things in a human mind and body operate beyond our conscious control...
...Now science has moved on and brings us face to face with a universe filled with randomness, variability, chaos theory, and odd quantum effects...
...He or she can then pursue meaningful goals guided by a chosen perspective, can plan and enact present behaviors for the sake of a future or final end...
...Nothing changes in the stimuli, but the brain can vary the way it organizes or reorganizes the array...
...Oh happy flaw...
...Human beings have freedom to choose their responses...
...If we're awake and aware, we can decide between the oppositional perspectives that instantly come to mind...
...Ironically, as I began to muse upon my insight, I left the lecturer behind and became absorbed in the problem of free will...
...Of course, on the way, persons may have to choose the grounds on which they will allow their behavior to be determined...
...Every thesis can produce an antithesis...
...When an individual looks at an ambiguous gestalt picture sometimes she will see a vase and sometimes the profile of two faces, depending on the way the brain organizes the array into a meaningful whole...
...At the same time, psychology has experienced its own postbehavioral revolutions, "the cognitive revolution" followed by "the consciousness revolution...
...Commonweal 7 June 19,1998...
...they can throw over old plans to embark on new projects or even self-destruct...
...Moral behaviors also become so habitual they drop out of consciousness...
...Yes, says Joseph F. Rychalk a notable defender of human consciousness and free will...
...People muse, imagine, and plan...
...Computers will never take the place of human beings, in part because they can never say no to the built-in program...
...Then came the best part of the lecture...
...The human individual exists as a biological organism as well as a culturally and socially shaped member of a historical time and place...
...different logical meanings and patterns can then be discerned...
...William James, for one, thought that the will consisted of the ability to fix and maintain our attention upon an object...
...In contrast to our neurobiologist's lecture, behaviorists confidently claimed that if you knew both the genetic endowment of an organism and its complete environmental history, you could predict its behavior...
...so I must jump through hoop after hoop...
...The theologian Nicholas Lash says that the first words of the Creed, "I believe in God," do not express one's considered opinion about God's existence but affirm that all of my life is "set henceforward steadfastly on God, and God alone...
...According to our lecturer, you cannot predict whether an organism will respond to a habitual stimulus, even when you know the organism's genome and historical development...
...It follows that what goes for frogs and leeches applies even more to human beings...
...not many of us have to debate whether or not to knock over an old lady and steal her purse...
...Free will doesn't mean that we have to initiate every thought or event in our lives, only that we can decide among alternatives...
...Finally, perhaps faith can be seen as a form of fixing our attention upon God and thereby freely committing ourselves...
...Of course, to defend free will, serf-consciousness, and reasoned action does not mean that everything we do is always conscious or rational...
...Variation, and thereby unpredictability, appear to be built into a simple nervous system...
...And the vase can disappear and two profiles come into focus...
...Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, how does your freedom grow...
...But individuals can change their goals...
...Individuals can respond to a proposition or any encountered fact by instantly thinking of its opposite...
...In a universe viewed as a giant machine, everything must follow unchangeable scientific laws...
...It also seems important to accept that oppositional thinking and behavior are necessary for human development...
...And we did it...
...To prove this point we were then shown several slides that can be seen in different ways...
...When you first learn to drive, each move is a consciously examined and willed decision...
...If, however, someone or something presents us with a new problem or dilemma, then we have to pay attention...
...Do they then freely decide on courses of action, no matter what their past conditioning...
...Even past decisions, once rationally chosen, can, over time, become habits that are automatic and unconscious...
...That's why two-year-olds say "NO" with joyful abandon...
...Obviously, by having the ability to refuse...
Vol. 125 • June 1998 • No. 12
