Can a person act freely in a system that is completely rigged, in which every action is determined from the outset? Maybe you are haunted by this question as you slog off to Town Hall to vote. Maybe it is so bothersome that you just stay home. Maybe you鈥檝e already sent in your ballot, but you feel somehow unsatisfied.
Between the nonstop political advertising in every form of media, friends on Facebook and Instagram who reinforce our views, 鈥渆nemies鈥� on Facebook and Instagram who disagree with and provoke us, and the general onslaught of ideologically-driven 鈥渘ews鈥� on a population trapped in the home on their phones, it鈥檚 hard to believe we have any opinions of our own鈥攁nd thus, any real free choice. Maybe we are not voting at all, in the old-fashioned sense, but simply filing the ballot we have been told to cast.
This is one of those rare, and therefore precious, moments when philosophy can help. Metaphysicians have always been worried about this question: Can we be free in a world that is completely determined? Many philosophers answer 鈥渘o,鈥� but a few rogue thinkers have claimed 鈥測es鈥濃�攖he whole cosmos might be rigged, in the sense that every event is determined beforehand, but, this can still be compatible with our free choice. This is what is usually termed 鈥渃ompatibilism.鈥�
You can think about the compatibilist conception of freedom in the following way: the world might be fully determined, but nevertheless we can be morally responsible for those actions. We can be the authors of our decisions even though we could not have done otherwise. The contemporary philosopher Harry Frankfurt suggests that we might consider an example, what is typically called a Frankfurt Case, to understand this kind of compatibilism, one that is especially salient on an election day like the one we are experiencing right now.
Frankfurt gives us the following thought experiment:
Jones is a Democrat and is likely to vote for the Democrats in fact, only in one particular circumstance will he not: that is, if he thinks about the prospects of immediate American defeat in鈥疘raq just prior to voting (let鈥檚 just go with the example). Ms. Black, a representative of the Democratic Party, wants to ensure that Jones votes Democratic, so she secretly plants a device in Jones鈥� head that, if activated, will force him to vote Democratic. Not wishing to reveal her presence unnecessarily, Ms. Black plans to activate the device only if Jones thinks about the鈥疘raq War prior to voting. As things happen, Jones does not think about Iraq prior to voting, so Ms. Black thus sees no reason to activate the device, and Jones votes Democratic of his own accord. Apparently, Jones is responsible for voting Democratic although, owing to Ms. Black鈥檚 device, he lacks freedom to do otherwise.
To be absolutely clear: this is a thought experiment, a figment of Frankfurt鈥檚 imagination. There is, most likely, no such thing as implantable nanotechnologies which completely determine elections. (Although one wonders who might be working on such a device, in a lab somewhere鈥�). But let鈥檚 assume there are mechanisms that make our universe and thus our thinking more determined, or predestined, than we might like to think. That is, unfortunately, surely the case.
A Great Force has been arranged to control our thinking, this thought-experiment suggests, but only in the instance when we would have done otherwise than we were already inclined to do. So Yes, it might be the case that as you suddenly changed your mind, you were controlled back to your original resolution; but No, if no stray thought intervened as you went to vote, a thought that suddenly changed your mind, you retained your liberty. You did indeed choose.
What is valuable about the Frankfurt Case is that it indicates that Jones, despite not being able to act otherwise, can still be responsible for his actions. It鈥檚 okay that you are already inclined to vote one way or another鈥攁ll choosing occurs within the context of our preferences, which of course includes our environments (and these days, social media is a big part of that environment). You are exercising your fundamental right as a citizen of a democracy鈥ven though it may also be true that if you had tried to choose differently, the Great Force would have prevented you.
Can you ever know whether or not the Great Force intervened? Probably not. But unless you vote, you鈥檒l certainly lose even the chance to be (maybe a bit weirdly) free.
And this should give us a little bit of solace, and maybe even a little bit of motivation, on a cold day in November when otherwise you just want to bury your head in bed and do nothing. And even if you are free to do that, maybe we鈥檇 better flip the switch and get you in the booth.
John Kaag is the the author of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (Princeton), American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche. He is professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Twitter @JohnKaag. Clancy Martin is a professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City and author of Love and Lies.