Q&A: Does Our Will Have a Prior Cause?
Does Our Will Have a Prior Cause?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the second notebook you formulated the cosmological argument as follows:
Premise A: Everything that we have experience of must have a cause (or source).
Premise B: Things of this kind exist (the universe, us, or any other object).
Conclusion: There must be a cause for the existence of these things.
I wanted to ask about this: do you mean that our will also has a cause that preceded it? If so, then seemingly it is not free will. And if not, then seemingly this contradicts Premise A (because our will is part of our experience and has no prior cause).
Best regards,
Answer
Hello Oren.
First, the will is not an entity, but rather a label for a collection of mental occurrences. The cosmological proof assumes that every (material) entity must have a cause that creates it. This is not exactly the principle of causality in the Humean sense (that every occurrence must have a cause).
Second, the same experience that teaches us that material entities have causes also teaches us that our will has no cause. It is formed freely. However, as I explained in the book The Science of Freedom, it is not arbitrary or random, but teleological (that is, directed toward a purpose and not produced by a cause).
Therefore, regarding the cosmological proof, it seems that the implication is actually the opposite: the claim about the will even strengthens it, since we see that although material entities have a cause (or a creator), spiritual occurrences do not necessarily have a cause. From this it becomes even more compelling to conclude that the first cause of the existence of material entities is something spiritual. In the standard formulation this is only a necessary conclusion in order to avoid an infinite regress, and now it is even reinforced by experience.
Discussion on Answer
Peshita, I’m afraid you haven’t yet studied the book The Science of Freedom ?…
I haven’t gotten around to it yet
Does the Rabbi really believe that the will is free???
Maybe one could say that the will is free only from awareness of its causes.
For example, a thirsty person wants to drink. At the moment he wants to, he is certainly not aware of all the physiological and neurological processes that led him to feel that he wants to drink. So he will say that this desire is free. Free from knowledge of its causes.
It is obvious that a person who truly had free will would not be able to survive for more than a few moments.