Causality and Agency

 

 A fundamental concept of the natural philosophy of  physics is that of causality, ie. "this" cause produces "that" effect with the effect always following the cause. The order is never the other way around and never the other way around as the natural order of things.  "That" never happens without "this" causing" it to happen. And that is what we experience in our daily lives.

A great deal of debate has always existed as to whether such is always the case. If "time travel" for example exits then the effect might exists before the cause. You might, for example, travel backwards in "time" to meet your long dead great grandfather when when was still living. But, alas, we have no empirical evidence of such a phenomena.

But it does leave open the issue of agency. Can an entity in and of itself produce an effect independent of  any physical cause for the effect? That is, do humans have "free will" to cause a specific effect? If so, is "free will" itself  the result of cause? Or is "free will" just another illusion of the mind?

We have empirical evidence of "cause and effect" using the tool of science but absolutely no empirical evidence of "free will". Will as you might but you cannot transmute lead into gold.or resurrect the dead. The best you can do is wish for such.

That leaves on the possibility for you to have "free will" to attempt to transmute lead into gold.or resurrect the dead. But do you spontaneously decide to attempt to do so? But are not your actions always prompted by something you have experienced in either your passage through life or in the present? Did you exercise read this post out of "free will" or did you do it out of habit or curiosity or interest? Did the title prompt some emotional response that caused you to read it? By what path of events lead you to read it? What caused you to experience those experiences?

I suggest that "feel will" is but awareness of the effect of some cause for your action and not the cause itself.