FREE WILL IS A CONCEPT THAT HAS BEEN DISCUSSED VAST
THROUGHOUT
MAJORITY
OF
CENTURIES, RESPECTED
AND
THE
PHILOSO-
PHERS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT IT. NIKS BERZINS ARGUES AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF FREE WILL.
found in a serial killer’s brain in the region most associated with aggression, then we exonerate that person from guilt. The offender is seen as a victim of biology. One could argue that that tumour is just a very specific case of how the chemical processes in our brain influence our decisions. We need to shake the ideas of retribution and punishment because bad people supposedly deserve it. We need to provide treatment for these people, and do everything we can in order to rehabilitate them. If one believes this to be true, the element of hatred towards human beings is removed completely. This is not however a deterministic view on the world. If you decide to sit around in bed all day and wait for things to happen to you, it is itself a decision. If you would try this you would soon come to a conclusion that it is not that easy to just sit around in bed and do nothing. Eventually the urge to do something would be/will be overwhelming, and having that urge is in no way a free decision. If we view ourselves as a system that is open to external influences, we can realise that it is indeed possible to change. You can never be the person you were yesterday, because the things that happen in life alter your state of mind, and influence every single decision made. We are not the conscious authors of our decisions, and yet our future is not set in stone. A myriad of external influences can push you one way or the other, thus change is possible. It’s just not your conscious self that will cause that change.
NIKS BĒRZIŅŠ
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