Are Our Decisions Pre-Determined?

Are Our Decisions Pre-Determined?
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Are Our Decisions Pre-Determined?
What if the decisions you make every day are already decided for you? What if the decision to wake up at 5 am is not really your decision? What if everything we do is pre-determined, and our quest to attain free will is but an illusion or mirage? These are scary thoughts that can interfere with the normal flow of life. People have become accustomed to certain routines that they believe they are in control of. Routines of life seem to be the result of firm decisions made by people with clear and free minds. Further, all these decisions feel personal, and most people believe they are completely in control of their lives. However, looking at how advertising is carried out today and how manipulative it has become, one wonders whether other sectors of life follow similar scripts. For example, simple and seemingly insignificant tags like $19.99 happen to influence people to buy certain products. In their study, Manning and Sprott (2009) indicate that retailers happen to use the ‘left-digit effect’ to influence or manipulate people into buying their products. The researchers reveal that people tend to be influenced by the left-most digit of the price of an item when they are comparing it to a substitute. For example, Manning and Sprott (2009) reveal that more customers will consider buying a pen priced at $3.99 than one priced at $2.00. The above example shows how people are influenced every day into buying certain products. The quality could be the same, but the majority end up buying the one that is most expensive. This could be one angle where the decisions people make are influenced and planned for. So, what if all other decisions that people make are premeditated? What if life decisions are a result of certain stimuli or subtle factors (price tweaks) that shape the way people behave, the decisions they make, and the doctrines and value systems people subscribe to?
This research paper will be guided by the question: Are the decisions people make every day pre-determined. Guided by this question, this paper will seek to discuss humanity’s decision-making system and the subtle factors that happen to influence behavior and decisions on a daily basis. Further, it will discuss the idea of free will being an illusion and the idea that no one is ever free regardless of the universality of freedom.
Does Free Will Exist?
Mainstream Understanding of Free Will
The mainstream understanding of free will is the ability to what one wants. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2018) defines free will as a person’s power over the choices they make and their actions. This means that someone believes that they have free will when their decisions are not under the influence of anything or anyone. The article further explains that there are two instances that often cause debate over the idea of free will. The first instance is, does free will factor in a person’s ability to go against their choices or actions? The other one is whether free will exists because a person is the originator of a choice, decision, or action. For most people, having free will encompasses both instances where someone can be the originator of a decision and change their mind whenever they want. However, people also understand that free will is limited and only happens within the confines of what is considered legal or right by societal values and norms. But even with these restrictions and barriers, people believe they are free and that they are in control of their actions.
Are Humanity’s Decisions and Choices Free?
With the understanding of free will described above, one could be inclined to affirm that people’s decisions and choices are free of any external influence or pressures. However, in most instances, people make decisions that in line with the norm or the attitudes and beliefs of society. For example, most people work hard every day because they have been influenced by the notion that they can be whoever they wish to be in the world. Students from a young age tend to push themselves beyond what is humanly possible as they try to ensure that they do not miss out on the opportunities to attain their dreams and aspirations. However, when assessed objectively, their hard work is a product of a statement that continues to influence action all over the world. Today, there are numerous actions and attitudes that are considered universal and that almost everyone in the world subscribes to. These further influence how people conduct themselves on a daily basis. So, are the decisions and choices people make free, or are they a product of the universality of norms and attitudes considered standard? One would argue that people are puppets in a system that continually makes it difficult to make independent decisions.
Additionally, there is the idea of friends, family, society, social status, and situations making certain decisions that they would normally not make. For example, while in school, peer pressure pushes many students to indulge in activities they detest because their friends are taking part in or because they do not wish to feel left out. Leets (2004) notes that being left out is a major factor that influences decision-making among teenagers. She writes that adolescents consider themselves as the problem when left out and find themselves wanting in some aspects. So, the craving or desire to be a part of these groups often pushes many of them to act in ways that are inconsistent with who they are and what they believe. Baar, Chang, and Sanfey (2019) enhance the above statement, noting that most people’s actions are context-dependent. The researchers note that even though most people’s decisions happen to align with their moral principles, these can change, especially when circumstances change. Their study revealed that people often switch between the strategies of inequity aversion, which entails doing things one believes are right, and guilt aversion, which entails doing something as a way to escape the resultant guilt. The switching, as revealed by the researchers, happens depending on the changing circumstances. In switching in between the moral principles, people are having their decisions influenced by their circumstances.
If Decisions are Not Free, Are People then Responsible for their Actions?
The universality of certain norms happens to ensure that people maintain or stick to certain behaviors at all times. So, the idea of free will is not concrete in that it does not originate from people but from standards set in society. So, if the above is the case, should people be held liable for what they do or choose not to do? Is it just to hold people morally responsible for actions that they are not in control of? For example, a person who grew up in a neighborhood that is dangerous and people who happen to indulge in different crimes is likely to develop similar tendencies. When such a person happens to kill another person, should they be blamed for their actions, or should their neighborhood be blamed? Holding such a person morally responsible appears prejudiced because they have grown up in an environment that reinforced the ‘crime’ he has committed. Fischer (2021) notes that moral responsibility is applicable when a person subscribes to “certain ethical predicates, such as “good,” “bad,” “courageous,” “charitable,” “dastardly,” “cruel,” and so forth.” He also adds that a morally responsible person for a certain behavior should have an explanation of their behavior. The person whose environment habituated him to the norms of killing simply aligns or subscribes to a different set of ethical predicates. However, his decisions happen to greatly depend on his environment and what is made available and seemingly normal to him. Such a person is not free to become but has to live their life within the confines of where they were born. Further, for people who subscribe to the ethical predicates that Fischer (2021) outlines, there is also an element of free will lacking because these predicates are not individually conceived but are a product of society. Using the above assertion, one would be inclined to agree with the notion that people should not be held morally responsible for their actions. However, within the bubble of ethical boundaries, people will always be found responsible for their actions.
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