Q&A: A Question About Free Choice
A Question About Free Choice
Question
Hello Rabbi,
What do you say about the following approach:
Human beings do many actions that do not require concentration, attention, or deliberation. Do you think it is correct to say that such people are not acting out of free choice, but out of instincts? For example, if a person has two ways to get home and they are very similar in length and difficulty, a person may find himself choosing one of them without having devoted any concentration or attention to either one…
Thanks in advance.
P.S. Haim Solomon (the son of Benny of blessed memory) sends you his regards. I am his brother-in-law.
Answer
Hello,
Thank you very much, and regards back (I understand that you are Tzlil’s brother).
You have mixed together two kinds of actions here: 1. those that do not involve any real hesitation, and therefore are done without conscious notice; 2. those that do require a decision, yet the person still does them absentmindedly (while preoccupied).
Both of these types were discussed in my book The Science of Freedom, and there I explained that these are indeed actions that are not done out of choice, but there is a difference between the two types: in type 1, your decision really has no significance, since there is no value difference between the two options (everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven). But in type 2 (where there is a consequence for fear of Heaven), if you did something improper, you bear responsibility. You should have paid attention and exercised judgment.