ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, we looked at some scientific issues that relate to free will. We saw that science, though relevant, cannot tell us for sure whether we have free will or, if we do, what it is like. What about philosophy? Where do we end up after considering all of these philosophical positions, arguments, and objections? Do we have free will or don’t we? Is free will possible? If so, how? Which theory makes the most sense? Why? In this book, we have looked at all sorts of different views and
their respective arguments: different versions of compatibilism, libertarianism, views that deny the existence of free will, and some others. Every view has its merits and its problems. You will notice that I have not taken a stand on which view is right or which arguments are successful. It is up to you to think about it and decide for yourself. But keep in mind that these are big questions – ones that you may revisit time after time and that you may change your mind about as you think through them. As with any other big philosophical problem, there are always more angles to ponder, more objections to respond to, and more questions to answer. A philosopher’s work is never done! Socrates (469-399 BCE), the great Ancient Greek philosopher and
father of the Western philosophical tradition, emphasized the role
of perplexity in gaining wisdom. He thought it was important to bring people to a state of confusion about big questions, such as “what is virtue?”. So if you are still confused about free will, this is as it should be. Perplexity is important because it inspires you to keep thinking and to keep an open mind. Notice that you don’t do much thinking about things that you feel confident that you know, and you don’t think about things that seem perfectly clear to you. Here’s a famous philosophical example (not directly related to
free will). You probably never think about whether there is a physical world outside of you. The existence of the physical world seems pretty clear to you and you feel confident that you know that the world exists. But if someone presents you with an argument as to why you can’t be so sure about its existence, then you might become perplexed and start to think about it. René Descartes (1596-1650 CE) famously wonders how we can be sure at any given time that we aren’t dreaming. Maybe all the things you see around you right at this moment are not “real” but just part of your dream. Maybe you are dreaming right now that you are reading this sentence. How can you be sure that you are not? There’s no way to test it because any test you perform could just be part of your dream. Descartes also wonders how we can be sure that some evil genius is not manipulating us into thinking the world is real when really it is not. How could we know? Very few people, philosophers included, really worry that the
world does not exist or that everything is a dream. Even Descartes does not actually end up thinking that he’s dreaming or that there’s an evil genius manipulating him. But his arguments are supposed to make us wonder. They make us perplexed as to how or why we are so sure of these things. Descartes wants us to not take anything for granted when it comes to what we claim to know. And this perplexity opens our minds to new ways of thinking. In this case, it opens our minds to new ways of thinking about knowledge and how we come to know things. This is just one of many illustrations of the role of perplexity in philosophy. As I often remind my students, with philosophy, if you are not somewhat perplexed, you are probably not doing it right! It’s like physical training for fitness or sports. You need to feel some exertion in order to make progress. When doing philosophy, you need to break a mental sweat!
