Choice

It has been argued that the way we act is caused by things outside our control (our upbringing, our culture, or our genes, for example). People with this belief would argue that people behave badly because it is in their genes to behave badly, or because they learned it from their parents growing up; and people behave well because it is in their genes to behave well, or because they learned it from their parents growing up. This is a form of what’s called determinism, or the idea that everything we do is determined by past events and by something called natural law (a law set by nature and that is valid everywhere). Why is this important? Saying that we behave the way we do because of our genetics or the environment means we aren’t really responsible for our bad behavior. If I do something wrong, it isn’t my fault because I didn’t really have a choice anyway. Contrast this with the idea of free will. Those who believe in free will argue that our choices are our own, and that we have full responsibility for them.

The implications of both of these ideas are enormous. If we have little control over our actions, for example, then why should people be punished for we do; or why should we be rewarded for what we do? Ultimately, that behavior was determined by something not completely in our control. On the other hand, if we have free choice about what we do, then we should be punished, and we should be rewarded.