Foggy Will

We like to think we have free will, but I don't think we do. Based on the amount of evidence and explanatory writings on this subject, I would like to think that this is a settled question, but it's not. So I ask myself, "Why do people still believe in free will?" Or, more generally, why do people have irrational beliefs or why do people believe something despite evidence to the contrary?

Many intelligent people hold to ideas which are irrational or contrary to evidence, so I will immediately discount the argument that complexity is the stumbling block.

Many of our so-called rational beliefs are actually so poorly understood they could be called irrational beliefs in the rational. Take for instance viruses. I do not know this for certain, but I think it is safe to say that most people would have a very difficult time explaining what a virus is or differentiating it from bacteria. Although we talk about viruses as if we were rational, modern people, but we might as well be talking of witchcraft for all we really know about how they work. My point is, rational or irrational, culture affects what we believe.

Culture is a very broad term. I think the most useful way defining culture for this context is the shared beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a group. Or, in other words, culture is the way in which individuals identify themselves with a group. Beliefs are more of a means to belong to a group than an end in themselves. There is a slew of experimental evidence supporting this point, but I think it is enough to say that people typically avoid conflict with the group. (Although, as an aside, members of a group are irresistibly fascinated when conflict does erupt.)

My conclusion is that the acceptability of a belief is more important than the truth or rationality of a belief. The belief itself could be completely irrational, but if most of the people you like or feel friendly toward believe it, then you are likely to believe it too. Free will is a fairly abstract and complex topic, but penetration of its complexity is not really that difficult. In fact, many of the writings trying to support free will are complex. The priorities of many of our great philosophers who have dealt with this topic are less on the truth than on creating a legal defense to justify their beliefs.

To rephrase Nietzsche, philosophy is dead. Empirical science has taken its place. In particular, with respect to human nature and consciousness, evolutionary psychology is the new religion and Darwin is the god. One of the primary moral values of this religion is humility. Devotees of evolutionary psychology strive to fully recognize how similar we are to other animals and how many of our beliefs and tendencies are rooted in biology.