You can choose to do what you want,
But you can't choose what you want to do.

Got it? Sweet.

Now, if it is so plainly obvious that we do things for reasons and that we don't choose our reasons, why is there still this idea of "free will" out there? This idea that somehow there is another element in the mix that is magically exempt from the situation, hovering spiritually above all of the reasons untouched, and choosing without being pushed around by circumstances?

Well, for one thing, there is the uncertainty of the future. Until something has come to pass, we don't really know for sure what's going to happen. The same goes with choices, our own choices included. Until I act, it certainly feels like I could act one way or another. That feeling of uncertainty gives me the feeling that there is something undetermined about the whole thing.

In a sense, it's true, because until the moment of choice occurs, I don't really know what kind of factors will be influencing me. I might suddenly remember something and act wildly differently from how I expected I was going to. But all that comes down to is not being completely certain what reasons I'll have at the moment of choice. I don't know what I'll choose because I don't know what reasons will be determining my choice at that moment. But that doesn't change the fact that it's the reasons that determine the choice.

Then there's the feeling that I could have acted differently. After making a choice, I have the ability to imagine what the outcome might have been, had I acted differently. I chose to shower this morning (honest), but I can imagine what it might be like to be sitting here at work smelling a bit like an IT helpdesk. And my imagination of the sequence of events begins with imagining what it would have been like to choose not to shower. But this ability to imagine does not make the world a magical place where I can choose to act one way when my reasons are all in favour of the other way. I don't like smelling like a role-player. I could perhaps imagine a situation where I do like smelling like a role-player and thus made the choice not to shower, but the fact remains that, in the world as it is, I prefer not to, and so I choose to wash.

And finally there's the fact that people don't like the idea they're not in charge. It's offensive to our egoistic sensibilities. But even the objection, "But I am in charge," is based on not quite getting it. You are in charge. You are making choices. But everything about being "in charge" and making choices is based on having some way of acting that you prefer. It makes no sense to talk about being in charge of your actions and your fate by being separated from your reasons for acting one way or another. If you really did become "free" in this sense of freedom from reasons for acting, what would you do? (Oh? And why would you do that?)

That's not the only reason people avoid acknowledging the nature of choice. Another is that there are a number of other concepts and social norms that are based on the fallacy of free will. People tend to have emotional attachments to what they've been brought up with. And if you've been brought up being told the following things, you don't want them undermined:

• People who do bad things could not have acted differently, given their circumstances.
• People who do good things could not have acted differently, given their circumstances.
• The cause of a crime may extend further than the person of the criminal him/herself - "good" people maybe causally related in some way.
• People who "choose to be poor" or "choose to work hard and become wealthy" could not have acted differently, given their circumstances.
• In short, blame and praise go out the window.

And we like blame and praise. We like to be able to point the finger at others and compare them unfavourably with ourselves. We like to relieve ourselves of any (causal) responsibility for those around us by assuring ourselves that everyone is responsible for their own choices. And we like to feel angry. Apparently the brain chemistry of anger is similar to happiness. Fair enough. It had its functions back in the days of primal this and that.

And so all of this comes around to the structure and functioning of society and how we understand individual responsibility, guilt, reward, punishment, blame and virtue. Which I'll write about tomorrow.