Guilt Free Will

There’s a simple proof free will exists:  Guilt.

Guilt is different from shame.  Guilt is internal, shame is external.  One may be made to feel shame through no fault of one’s own simply by how others react to inherent traits one cannot control (ethnicity, circumstances of birth, etc.) but guilt comes from the realization one made a bad choice.

Why would guilt exist if we did not possess free will?  It’s an evolutionary dead end, it serves no purpose if we are governed by preprogrammed responses in our brain be those responses genetic / organic / biological / environmental in origin.

Obviously, guilt and shame can overlap but they are not identical.  If one is using the bathroom and another person barges in, the user may feel shame at being caught with their pants literally down but the intruder should feel guilt at not first checking to see if the bathroom was occupied (they may also feel shame at others for judging them over this faux pas, but separate and apart from guilt).

We can envision scenarios where an intruder is justified in barging in — say another person is stricken with a severe medical condition and needs their medicine immediately.  Shame can still be involved in such a case but not guilt, shame at causing another’s embarrassment even though the offense is justified.

But guilt is the result of having two or more choices and knowingly and freely making a choice that ends badly.

In 1939 the submarine U.S.S. Squalus sank off the coast of New Hampshire when an air vent didn’t close and the aft compartments flooded.  26 crew members drowned when the chief petty officer slammed the hatch to the aft compartments, sealing them in --

-- but doing so saved the lives of 34 crew members in the forward compartments.

Had he hesitated the onrushing water -- driven in faster and faster as the sub sank and pressure increased -- would have made closing the hatch impossible, drowning everyone onboard.

The chief petty officer made a quick -- and correct -- choice.  While the loss of so many crew mates doubtlessly haunted him to his dying day, he did no wrong, he made no mistake, he saved most of the crew.

In discussions about empathy, these types of choices are often brought up.  There are indeed times when one must let something bad befall one group to benefit another.  It’s not always as clear cut or as dramatic as the Squalus situation, but we need to choose among a range of options.

And sometimes those options can’t be easily defined or evaluated.

 Case in point:  Do we take from those financially well off to provide for those who are destitute?  How did the well off achieve their status?  Did they do so by exploiting those with less?  Then they damn well better pony up.

But sociopaths and psychopaths and narcissists are well schooled in finding ways to dodge responsibility and avoid guilt.

Like serial killers who care for nothing but their own sadistic pleasure, they can excuse their own choices and actions.

They are indeed examples of a lack of free will insofar as they act on impulse, thinking ahead only to the point of avoiding being held accountable for what they do. There are no moral or ethical judgements on their part, just want / avoid.

And while they can be cunning, they lack the crucial mental capacity to evaluate good and bad choices beyond what impinges on them immediately.

Guilt is the result of feeling responsible for outcomes that harm others.  Wearing the wrong outfit to a social event may result in shame, mistakenly telling others to wear similar outfits resulting in their embarrassment is guilt.

Sociopaths / psychopaths / narcissists may feel personal shame, but they never feel guilt at how their actions affect others.

Guilt, therefore, can only result from a choice one makes, and if one is so governed by one’s subconscious impulses that one is programmed to respond only one way, then guilt is not merely pointless but actually counterproductive.

Do we feel guilt over our breathing?  Our heart beat?  Unless we suffer from some mental or emotional disorder, no, of course not.

Therefore in order to have guilt, we must first have free will.

© Buzz Dixon