Hi, my name is Matt Eitzman, and I am a junior majoring in neuroscience and minoring in statistics and writing at the University of Michigan. This electronic portfolio highlights a short story I wrote this semester, "The Will," a philosophical work of fiction exploring the concept of free will.

 

As a neuroscience major, I have been afforded the opportunity to learn much about the brain and how it works, including how certain cells in our brains, called neurons, communicate with each other. With the appropriate experimental apparatus, the precise biological mechanisms by which one neuron sends a signal to another neuron can be observed. Learning about the cause-and-effect nature of these neurons that gives rise to perceptions so fundamental to the human experience instilled within me at the time — and continues to instill within me — a feeling of existential angst. From my interest in philosophy during my first two years at the university, I had already grappled with the unsettling idea of determinism, the view that universe unfolds in ways immutably bound by the laws of physics. One cause leads to an effect, which becomes the cause for the next effect, and so on ad infinitum. I consistently wonder if my own actions and the actions of others occur in a predetermined manner, allowing no room for free will.

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And thus, to more deeply investigate the concept of free will, I decided to write this short story. The protagonist in the story concedes that all humans vary in many ways, including in physical and mental characteristics, but is firm in the belief that we all share an intrinsic ability to choose our own course of action. I see this as a prominent, at least implicitly accepted point of view in society at large — I even recognize it in my own thought patterns upon introspection. Public celebration in response to the imprisonment of a criminal stands out as an epitome of society's implicit beliefs on free will; while the justice system may be necessary to prevent criminals from continuing to commit crimes and, simultaneously, to set a precedent that discourages others to commit crimes, the intensity of celebration following eventual incarceration appears to go beyond simply a celebration of these two features; rather, it seems that the criminal is held morally responsible for the crime, and the imprisonment represents satisfying justice. Of course, this notion of justice depends on the existence of free will; if the offender could not have acted differently, then it would seem inappropriate to cheer at their inevitable incarceration. The disconcerting nature of situations like this one exemplifies the inspiration for my short story, which I hope provides you with a thought-provoking experience.