Physical and material senses
Baron d’Holbach is a philosopher who believed in hard determinism: the theory that humans are solely governed by outside forces and that free will does not exist. D’Holbach believed that “nature is one grand machine, and humans are particular machines within this grand machine,” meaning that we do not have control over our own actions. According to d’Holbach, our actions are predetermined by nature. We may think that we possess free will because we are able to make our own decisions and formulate our own thoughts. D’Holbach explains that this “freedom” is really not a freedom at all. D’Holbach argues that our opinions, ideas, and thoughts are created by our “physical and material senses.” When we experience feelings of anguish or happiness, we have not chosen to feel this way. When a ground-breaking idea pops into our heads, we have not chosen to have the idea. When we sniff a sweet-smelling flower and think to ourselves “that smells great,” we experience an attraction to that scent without choosing to be attracted. Through these experiences, we form motives, which d’Holbach explains to be “modifications of the brain.” Motives prepare the body for an action, therefore actions arise from our motives. When we decide against an impulse, we are experiencing a new motive that deters the mind and possibly points it in another direction. Throughout this process, a person will always act “according to necessary laws, from which he has no means of emancipating himself.” I believe that d’Holbach is right. Prior to reading d’Holbach’s ideas, I believed that humans had free will simply because we are free to make our own decisions. For example, I believed that my free will is proven when I would choose what to eat for breakfast. In reality, there are many factors affecting my choice that I have no control over. I may have a craving for pancakes, which pushes me to make pancakes for breakfast. On the other hand, I may have woken up feeling lazy, or maybe when I last went to the grocery store, I forgot to get eggs. These factors will point me in the direction of a different breakfast food. Our minds are influenced by many factors that we cannot control, and when we form ideas and thoughts, we never choose to do so. I think humans do not have control over their actions since actions are the result of irrepressible thoughts and ideas.
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