Modern beliefs in “free will” and “determinism” both look back to Isaac Newton for support. “Free will” is supported by what Newton did, while “determinism” is supported by the theory that he produced.
To refer to Newton as a genius is a terrible understatement. In 1661, Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1665. He stayed on to work on his master degree, but in 1666 the university closed for 18 months as a result of an epidemic of the plague. During this 18 month period, Newton developed his basic concepts on universal gravitation and optics. It was also during this time that Newton invented “the Calculus” so that he could express his ideas in mathematical form.
In 1667, Newton became a professor at Cambridge, and twenty year later after 18 month of writing, in 1687 Newton published Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, in which he codified his laws of mechanics. Newton’s laws became the unquestioned foundation of science for the next two-hundred years.
At the dawn of the Enlightenment, Newton had powerfully demonstrated this period’s basic tenant: A man can exercise his reason and thereby understand and even change the world in which he lives. The Enlightenment held that human beings are not merely passive beings forced to suffer whims of the gods. However, within Newton’s work slept a powerful attack against “free will.”
The same year that one son of the Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson, wrote:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .
(Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776) the Scotsman, Adam Smith published Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Wealth of Nations). Like Jefferson’s emphasis on the individual in the political realm, Smith set forth a theory of economics in which individuals freely making choices, which are in their own interests, and such choices benefit society as a whole. In a famous quote, Smith wrote:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
Smith used the analogy of an “invisible hand” by which an individual’s decisions act to benefit society, as a whole.
. . . he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.
The Enlightenment celebrated the individual, and emphasized the ability of the individual to better the world through the use of reason, and the exercise of free will.
Eleven years later (1787), the founding fathers met in Philadelphia and drafted the United States Constitution. With its ratification and the inclusion of the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers codified the importance of the individual. Likewise, the “commerce clause” and several other provisions of the Constitution codified the importance of free markets, and thus the importance of the individual actor in the economy.
The Clockwork Universe
While Newton’s achievement was an amazing demonstration of reason rolling back the mysteries of the universe, Newtonian mechanics described what is referred to as a clockwork universe. A universe locked in the hold of cause and effect such that a complete knowledge of the state of the universe at any point in time would allow a complete understanding of the universe at any other point in time through the application of the laws of physics. In other words, every event that has occurred or ever will occur was set from the beginning of the universe, including the evolution of man, the neurons in your brain, and every thought you will ever have. Newton’s universe was a “deterministic” universe, a universe devoid of freedom.
Such deterministic theories are referred to as “classical” theories. In physics, the last major “classical theory” to be developed was Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. The most accurate theory every developed for explaining large scale events in the universe, this deterministic description of the universe falls apart when dealing with the very small.
As Einstein was developing his General Theory of Relativity, experiments were revealing a bizarre world at the atomic level. Experiments showed a world in which particles seem to react to observation by conscious beings. Particles seem to take all paths to a destination when not watched, but take only one path when observed. The Quantum world is world in which there is no absolute cause and effect, only probabilities can be calculated concerning the expected behavior of a particular particle.
Einstein was himself involved in some of the important discoveries that resulted in of science’s strangest theory, “Quantum Mechanics,” Despite his own participation, Einstein declared, "I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world." However, decades of experimentation has revealed that God really does play dice. The rigid cause and effect of classical theories has been broken, and most scientists believe that a theory that truly explains the universe must be a “quantum” theory.
Karl Marx
As Newtonian determinism ruled supreme during the 19th Century, similar theories were developed in other areas of intellectual endeavor, including economics. Many saw Darwin’s theory of evolution as undermining the special importance of the individual. In addition to traditional areas of science, they believed that scientific methods could be directly applied to human social relationships. This effort has some ugly results, such as eugenics and theories of white racial superiority.
Today, the debate over free will and determinism often centers on the issue of consciousness. Is consciousness simply the result of a very complex computing system? Is what we call consciousness simply an illusion created by a certain density and number of neurons interacting? At some point will computers become conscious beings? Or, do human beings actually have a separate “will” capable of acting through our bodies on a physical world. These are all interesting questions that are currently a matter of belief. rather than scientific evidence. If this topic catches your interest, you will probably enjoy reading The Mind and The Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley.
With our legal and economic systems set during the Enlightenment, and codified in the text of the Constitution, our systems assume “free will.” We stress the rights of the individual, and demand legal responsibility for a person’s “intended” actions. Our economic system is based on free markets, and thus the assumption that individuals really can choose. Is this assumption correct, or simply an illusion? You decide (if you can).
