Today we hear a lot about choice. We hear that it is within our power to make choices that benefit us and to take responsibility for choices that haven’t. Good messages, but are they true. Free Will argues that choice is an illusion. Author Sam Harris has degrees in philosophy and neuroscience, and he makes a convincing argument about how our brains and bodies are already choosing prior to our taking any action. In this small book, which was on a number of “best of 2012” lists, Harris asks us to consider how if we cannot consciously perceive choice are we free to follow its signal?
Harris’ argument might be depressing, but it is an interesting idea that offers us another philosophy about choice to choose among, that is, if choice is possible.