It is certainly true that our decisions are influenced by evolutionary heritage, the biochemical state of the brain, environmental influences which we may or may not have control over, etc. But that does not prove whether or not there exists a free will component of some sort.
Part of the problem is unexamined circular reasoning. Assuming that the material is all that there is, finding physical explanations for material things explains all that there is. I have a physical explanation for something, therefore the material is all that there is. But even that error doesn’t justify the claim that they are disproving free will. In a purely materialistic universe, free will could be an emergent property of a sufficiently complex mind. A similar problem (along with others) applies to the concept of a Boltzman brain - the claim that sufficient random variation in matter would produce a configuration of atoms that happens to match that of a brain with particular memories and sensations. That would only be true of a brain is purely a matter of configuration of atoms (as well as needing the “random variation” to actually be capable of producign the particular configuration.)
I do understand the trepidation of going down the free will rabbit hole. If we look at our brains like we would a computer chip then we are forced to confront the possibility that our actions are simply the state of our brain at any given moment, a wholly deterministic outcome. That’s a bit spooky, even for us atheists.
So how do we approach this problem? Many forms of theism have put forward the idea of some sort of dualism, where the soul interacts with the body or some sort of interaction between the immaterial and material. Others have suggested superposition in quantum mechanics might offer some sort of rescue, where many outcomes are possible instead of just one.
My solution is a complete cop out. I just don’t worry about it. If free will is an illusion, it’s a good enough illusion for me. As I have mentioned in other threads, I call it the Rollercoaster Approach. You can either look down and fret over the fact that you are following a set track along a set course, or you can enjoy the ride. I opt to enjoy the ride.
Sorry for the confusion. In the quote T there was a fairly unambiguous statement about consciousness, supposedly everything happens unconsciously and the mind serves as a kind of decoration. I also like reading Haidt, he says reasonable things and I don’t remember him saying that all processes happen unconsciously, as can be understood in the quote above. Therefore, I decided to clarify, sorry
And we should be grateful so much of our processing goes on beneath our awareness of it. People who try too hard to be involved in all of it become schizophrenic.
