The will comes later, from the 18th to the early 21st century.

The will comes later, from the 18th to the early 21st century.

Does free will really exist solidly within human beings? This question is once again sharply confronted by the findings of psychology and cognitive science that associations and physical reactions determine decisions. People think they think, decide, and act on their own. In reality, however, it has become clear that a significant portion of judgments begin as automatic reactions before they are even conscious.

Words, images, and immediate prior experiences influence feelings and choices through the priming effect; embodied cognition, in which body posture and facial expressions change mood and evaluation. All of these phenomena indicate the possibility that the will is not ordering behavior, but that the reaction comes first and consciousness follows the outcome. Behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman has shown that System 1 is a fast, automatic, sensory and bodily layer of thought, where associations and reactions take precedence over free choice.

This problem was already anticipated in 18th century philosophy. Philosopher David Hume argued that the ego is not a persistent, autonomous subject, but merely a series of perceptions, feelings, and memories. The view is that the fact that a person feels that he or she is being judged by a single entity is merely the result of the mind putting together a stream of experiences after the fact. Here, free will appears more as a narrative to explain action than as a cause of action.

Modern neuroscience and psychology also reinforce this philosophical intuition. Experiments have been reported that show that preparation for action has already begun in the brain prior to decision-making, and there is a growing interpretation that conscious decisions occur afterward. In other words, the will may not be the starting point that gives rise to action, but rather an afterthought device that gives meaning to action.

The idea that free will is an illusion does not deny human dignity or responsibility. Rather, understanding how susceptible people are to the influence of their environment, body, and associations provides a realistic perspective on the nature of judgment, institutions, and education. The will is not an all-powerful commander, but a storyteller who takes on the flow of reactions as a narrative. A contemporary understanding of the human being begins by acknowledging its position.