“This is a FREE country”.”You are FREE to do whatever you want”. We all believe that we are free to act however we want due to constant reiteration of phrases like these. However, are we really free? Or do societal norms that persuade us, laws that prohibit us and social situations that influence us actually play an important role in us making our decisions?
The term free will means, “The ability to decide what to do independently of any outside influence.” -Cambridge Dictionary. According to me no decision is made without the presence of an external stimuli. The very fact that we physically and psychologically cannot receive instant gratification as demanded by our impulses due to societal norms, laws etc make me believe that we are not in full control of our decisions. When i do not have to suppress my urges in certain circumstances and my desires can be fulfilled without me worrying about my consequences that is when i can say that i have free will.
This further begs the question: Are we suppressing our true selves to fit in? Now, everyone wants to think of themselves as unique individuals that have created an identity for themselves. However, every human being wants to be socially accepted in some way or the other. It is one of our developmental needs that we cannot escape from. Therefore, we are all influenced by the people around us. We may choose to watch certain TV shows to keep up with trends or not wear certain clothes because it is considered unsophisticated, even though we may internally not want to watch those shows and try out those clothes. So, is this image we portray of ourselves really us or what people want us to be? If you analyse this a bit you will realize that your wants are your free will and they are being constantly suppressed due to feelings of fear, responsibility, guilt etc.
However, many people do believe that the very action of “choosing” to do something regardless of the external factors or being free to make that decision means that we do indeed have free will. In my opinion, yes, you can choose what you want. You just can’t choose why you want it. For example, if a person wants to go to the gym so that they can stay healthy their want to stay healthy exceeds their desire to go to the gym. Furthermore, why do they want to stay healthy? Possibly because they think their gaining weight. But why are they gaining weight? Probably because they eat what they want. So, why do they want what they eat? To satisfy their hunger. Now, hunger is something that is out of our control. Our decision to eat something to fulfill our desire may be what you consider free will but our desire to not feel hungry is not up to us. Hence, why we want what we want is not up to us.
To conclude. The topic of free will is a bottomless pit that makes me feel like i have absolutely lost my mind. Though, I do believe that free will possibly exits, just not the way we think it does.
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