Psychology And Free Will

For a long time the main idea in studying people has been that of free will. According to free will, people have the ability to choose their behavior, and people's behavior is a function of conscious, deliberate choice.

This idea has been challenged by some in psychology, who stated that people's behavior was instead a function of drives, feelings and instincts. Some people saw this idea as being liberating from the moral strictures that went along with the idea of free will; but in fact it is enslaving in the end. The logical outcome of this kind of thinking is the attitude that people are their nature and can only be their nature. So that, if someone is possessing of a bad nature in one or another form, then this attitude will damn such a person for life. According to this thinking, once a sociopath always a sociopath, once a narcissist always a narcissist, once a pedophile always a pedophile, and further along the same line. The outcome of this has not been liberation, it has been something very close to fascism. Some people are singled out for extermination or at least evisceration and dehumanization. And that has created one of the most vicious movements that the West has known in a long time.

In this scenario the liberation is achieved through re-introduction of free will. Liberation is achieved by regaining the concept of choice. Even if one has something wrong with his brain, he can still choose to act in a rightful manner. A pedophile can choose not to act on his pedophilic urges. A sociopath can learn ethics. And a narcissist can use his mind to figure out another person's perspective even if his heart fails to do the job.

A movement that once promised freedom from moral strictures of Victorianism ended up becoming a force for fascism. According to these trends in psychology, some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do. The result has been vicious, relentless persecution of some people. This trend in psychology is not even rational. Once again, if people are responsible for their actions then anyone can choose to act rightfully; and if some people cannot choose to act rightfully whatever they do then people are not responsible for their actions.

I believe that people are in fact responsible for their actions. In fact I know they are. There have been all sorts of people who chose to act rightfully regardless of what was in their nature or in their psychology. In this situation the idea of free will indeed becomes a force for liberation. It allows people to choose rightful conduct and rightful thinking whatever exists in their natures. And that makes it a force for true liberty.

The problem with the Victorian model was that it ignored everything except free will. In such a situation it is in fact correct that people see other things that are there – things such as feelings or instincts or drives. But then psychology went to the other extreme and denied free will. It stated basically that we are animals. One obvious problem with this, once again, has been that it has lead to fascism. Psychology decided that some people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do. This is irrational; this is cruel; and this is wrong.

And by restoring free will without ignoring everything else that is there, is achieved true freedom and complete existence as human beings.