Do We Have Free Will?
Science, Philosophy, and Meaning Behind Our Choices
A billion lives. A billion different answers.
Ask anyone whether they’re free to choose their own future, and you’ll hear echoes of their culture, their class, their beliefs. Some see freedom as their birthright. Others see life as karma unfolding. But what does science say? And what do we need to believe to live?
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
—William Ernest Henley, 1875
But was he?
Across time and cultures, humans have asked a haunting question: do we have free will? The answer seems to shape everything: our morals, our laws, even our sense of self-worth. And yet, no answer satisfies everyone.
In America, the idea of free will is embedded in the national DNA. From the Founding Fathers to Silicon Valley, the belief that one can rise, conquer, reinvent, and self-determine is central to the mythos. Henley’s declaration is more than a poem; it’s a philosophy.
But not all cultures agree.
In many Eastern philosophies, the idea of self-determination is replaced by a deeper view: that everything is interconnected, predestined, and cyclical. Buddhism, for example, holds that our present is a reflection of past actions—not just from this life, but from countless lives before. In this view, the notion of pure free will is almost laughable; we’re all living consequences.
Then there are belief systems like Hinduism, which hold a more nuanced stance: karma exists, but so does choice. Every action becomes a seed, planted in this or another life. While we may not control the soil we’re born into, we do influence what grows next. It’s a spiritual middle path, a balance between determinism and agency.
Science, the Brain, and the Illusion of Choice
Enter neuroscience.
In the late 20th century, experiments by Benjamin Libet suggested that the brain initiates decisions before we are consciously aware of making them. In other words, our sense of “choosing” may just be a post-hoc rationalization.
Libet’s work sparked decades of debate. Some scientists now argue that free will is an illusion—a comforting story we tell ourselves to create meaning. Others, like philosopher Daniel Dennett, argue that even if decisions start subconsciously, the complex interplay of thoughts, values, and goals that shape them still reflect a type of real will.
Then there’s compatibilism, a theory proposed by philosophers like David Hume and more recently Peter Strawson. It suggests that free will and determinism can coexist. We may not control everything, but we can still be responsible for our choices because they emerge from who we are, even if who we are is partly shaped by forces we didn’t choose.
Chains Dreaming of Wings
Consider this: A child born in poverty doesn’t choose their zip code. Nor do they choose their parents, their access to education, or their exposure to violence. Can we say this child has the same free will as the son of a CEO?
Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre believed that even in chains, man is free because we always have a choice, even if it’s only in how we respond. Viktor Frankl echoed this in Man’s Search for Meaning, written after surviving the Holocaust: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing… to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
This is the paradox: even when life feels predetermined, we still must act as if we are free. To live with dignity. To love with purpose. To resist despair.
Faith, Fight, and Freedom
At some point, perhaps the question isn’t whether free will exists objectively. Maybe it’s about what happens to a person when they believe they have it.
Believing in free will can foster resilience, hope, ambition, and compassion. It allows us to dream beyond our limitations. Even if science someday “proves” that choice is an illusion, human beings may still need the idea of it to thrive.
Because if life is a game we didn’t choose, then believing we can still play it well—that may be the freest act of all.
“Are we the master or the marionette? In a world of uncertain freedom, choose the law you live by even if free will is the paradox itself.”
— Vanessa Liu