Do Desires Determine our Moral Decisions?

About this sermon

Do desires determine which choice we will make, or do we, as morally accountable creatures, determine which of our competing desires we will act to fulfill? This is a relatively quick critic of Jonathan Edward's (via RC Sproul's) theory on the effectual cause of man's choices being their strongest inclination at the moment of choice. While teaching on the concept of human free will, Dr. RC Sproul wrote, “The crux of the matter lies in the relationship between choice and desire, or disposition. Edwards’s thesis is that we always choose according to the strongest inclination, or disposition, of the moment. Again, not only can we choose according to our strongest desires, but we must choose according to our strongest desires of the moment. Such is the essence of freedom—that I am able to choose what I want when I want it. … To choose according to the strongest desire, or inclination, of the moment means simply that there is a reason for the choices I make. At one point Edwards defined the will as “the mind choosing.” The actual choice is an effect, or result, which requires an antecedent cause. The cause is located in the disposition, or desire. If all effects have causes, then all choices likewise have causes. If the cause is apart from me, then I am a victim of coercion. If the cause is from within me, then my choices are self-determined or free. --Think about Edwards’s thesis that we always choose according to the strongest inclination, or desire, of the moment. Think, if you will, of the most harmless choice that you might make in the course of a day. Perhaps you attend a meeting of a group and choose to sit on the left side in the third seat from the end of the fourth row at the front of the room. Why did you choose to sit there? In all probability, when you entered the room, you did not engage in a thorough analysis of your seating preferences. You probably did not make a chart to determine which was the best seat. Your decision was probably made quickly, with little or no conscious evaluation and with a sense of apparent spontaneity. Does that mean, however, that there was no reason for your choice? Perhaps you sat where you did because you are comfortable sitting on the left side of the room in such meetings… Perhaps your seat selection was governed by forces outside of your control. Perhaps the seat you chose was the only seat left in the room so that you had no choice in the matter at all. Is that completely true? The option to stand at the back of the room was still there. Or the option to leave the meeting altogether was still there. You chose to sit in the only seat available because your desire to sit was stronger than your desire to stand…." Notice that Edwards is actually saying that desires determine an agent's decisions, not the agent himself, which reduces moral choice to instinctive reflexes. On our view, inclinations incline the will, they don't determine it. The cause of a decision is the decision maker. The cause of a choice is a chooser. The cause of an act is the actor. For more on this topic please visit: https://soteriology101.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/philosophical-reflections-on-free-will/