Is Agency An Illusion?

A fundamental belief in Mormon doctrine is the concept of agency; the capacity and free-will to carry out choices and actions. Individuals are believed to possess the ability to act according to their own volition. But is this true? Do we really have any agency at all? Some people will even go as far to say that all human life is determined and free-will is a complete illusion. The tension created between free-will and a determined fate poses some difficult challenges for advocates of free-will, but these problems can be resolved by recognizing the nuances that accompany each of these terms.

The topic of agency often raises some questions as to the degree at which humans can choose. If we were truly beings of free-will, our existent would not be contingent on any other being. Richard Dawkins, prominent atheists poses an intriguing thought in his book The God Delusion. Essentially, he states: “you happen to have been brought up, I would presume, in the Christian faith. You know what it's like to not believe in a particular faith because you're not a Muslim. You're not a Hindu. Why aren't you a Hindu? Because you happen to have been brought up in America, not in India. If you had of been brought up in India, you'd be a Hindu.”

The sticky situation that advocates of free-will are put into is the individual’s inability to choose the location or socio-economic status they were born into. It is quite apparent that on a molecular level, (biochemically, organically, quantum mechanically etc.) the makeup of our body is determined by factors out of our control. The genetic and epigenetic aspects of our life play a huge role in how we act, which influences we are susceptible to, and which beliefs we profess to hold to.

When we walk into an ice cream shop we are faced with dozens of options. We may think consciously that we are making a choice, but many complicated factors influence what we select. Perhaps the genes we inherited from our parents cause us to be allergic to nuts, the food we ate as a child happened to be very low in sugar (deterring us from choosing flavors like cookie dough), or out of habit we choose the same flavor we did the first time we went to this ice cream shop.

The possibilities could go on and on, but what does become apparent is that there are many subconscious factors that heavily influence our decisions. The advocates of a determined fate would say that we as humans are simply responding to the influences we receive, much like plants respond to the sun and produce chlorophyll in response. We are simply components in society that receive stimuli and react accordingly.

I do have to concede that the argument for determinism is quite convincing, but it is not a satisfying one nor is it in line with reality. I would argue that our life is composed of many different layers of cake. These layers of cake represent the various molecular and biological factors that seem to be fixed. But on the very top layer of this cake, we can make conscious free-will decisions. I do not mean free-will in the sense of a complete libertarian mode of living, but when we are presented with options we have the capacity to choose, no matter if one choice seems to bear a greater influence in being chosen.

I would further posit that our free-will is not static but increases or decreases depending on the choices that we make. Children are dependent on their parents and often this would mean that they have a very limited amount of free-will. As children turn into teenagers and subsequently adults, prudent choices can lead to an increase in free-will. Choices such as finishing basic education, not having children out of wedlock, etc. can increase the amount of choices present to the individual and increase their capacity to choose. The religious paradox that embodies this idea is that by abstaining from certain actions we are increasing our freedom. I would add that humans believing that they can make choices manifests itself in many beneficial pragmatic ways and could increase our desire to perform good.

To reiterate, individual’s religious beliefs, habits, inclinations, preferences, etc. are in large part due to deterministic factors, but on the most top level of the individual (i.e. consciousness) exists the capacity of free-will which can subsequently be increased over time.

Anyways, we could go on and on with this debate, but what do you think, can you choose or is your whole life an automatic reaction to stimuli?