[Avodah] Free Will vs. Physics

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:
> Now, back to free will... Perhaps the problem is simply a
> false dichotomy: we're asserting that the ability to make
> that first decision is either determined entirely by
> previous causes or part of it is random. Are they really
> antonyms?

I agree. Of course, previous experiences *are* a big factor in the current choice, but that's not the entirety of it. There is something more. It *appears* to be random, but that's because it's not part of our physical universe, and not even in our ability to comprehend.

Or maybe that's just an excuse. Maybe we CAN comprehend the extra factor which gives us this ability. I will even suggest a possible name for it: imagination. When I choose between A and B, I'm not limited to the sorts of results that A and B have yielded in the past. I can go beyond that, and imagine other possible results. I can go even further, and fool myself into imagining results which others would say are *not* possible.

I know that choices can be made even by animals. (I remember, as a child, holding two different treats in each hand for my dog, and he would look at one hand, then the other, and back to the first, trying to decide which he wanted more.) But I don't know if animals are capable of imagination. (I concede that they might have it, but we wouldn't recognize it.) In any case, you can consider it to be a mere illustration, a mashal, a suggestion of what the extra factor might be, which allows us to make a truly free-willed choice.

Akiva Miller
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