Am I really the Master of my own Fate?

Humanistic Psychology on Free Will & Suicide

"Humans are naturally good", a famous principle that humanistic psychology holds. It adopts a holistic approach towards human existence and pays its attention to creativity, positive human potential and free will. Humanistic psychology is rooted down from the idea of Socrates— and its main goal is to emphasize one's inherent drive towards which is the process of realizing and expressing one's own capabilities and creativity, thus promoting empowerment of the individual. This optimistic view of humanistic psychology shows the noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair—it was considered as the "third force" that patches up the limitations (examining the positive aspects of nature) of the schools of thought before it (i.e. behaviorism, psychoanalysis) (Hergenhahn,2001). And just like any other schools of thought a lot of anomalies against humanistic psychology emerged. Notably, the concept of free will vs determinism.

Free will, to some extent gives the type of freedom wherein an individual decides in making their own choices, assuming that they are free and thus—they control their lives. However, in some cases, this freedom can lead into a situation wherein one questions as to whether life is worth living or not: "Should I live as if life has a meaning, even though it—objectively, is utterly meaningless? Or should I end this life?"—though the questions may be of existential nature, the concept of suicide comes into this. Suicide is one of the most controversial issues in our society. The act of taking one's life is viewed negatively by the society at large and is oftentimes misinterpreted as an act of selfishness. Although, there might be factors that contributes to this (societal, emotional, spiritual etc.), considering (or even trying to commit) suicide can, perhaps puzzlingly, be understood as an effort to regain lost of control: the person cannot bring his life in order, but he can, at least, bring it to an end. Both concepts of free will and suicide, in our perspective, can be basically attributed to the aspect of being in control of one's life. Thus, leading us to ask the question: "Are we really the Masters of our own Fate?" ... Does having the free will to control our lives, necessarily imply the fact that we can decide how to end it?

Free will and Determinism

There has been a very long standing debate about how people make decisions and actions in their life: Do they do everything of their own accord? Or is there a determined behavior in which they follow unconsciously?

Free will is the idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assumes that we are free to choose our behavior, in other words we are self-determined. While determinism proposes that all behavior is caused by preceding factors and is thus predictable. The causal laws of determinism form the basis of science (McLeod, 2013).

Actually, there is no real consensus within psychology as to whether we have free will or not—but most of the fields seem to silently agree that we don't. Freud and Skinner (from the school of psychoanalysis and behaviorism respectively) didn't agree on very much, but one thing they did agree on was that human behavior wasn't because of our own choices, rather it is determined by the inner or outside influences that affect the person. Freud talked about unconscious conflicts as causes of behavior while Skinner talked about environmental contingencies, but either way we were not free to decide.

It remains an interesting issue as to whether freedom is compatible with determinism, because determinism holds that every event is caused in a predictable way by events before it. Free will means that we make choices from a variety of options. And if those choices are actually caused by some other event beyond our control, where does freedom come in? It's a question that is particularly concerning when we try to assign people moral responsibility for their actions. If the actions of individuals are not free, it becomes more difficult to say that a criminal, for instance, is guilty of anything other than being composed of atoms, his actions predetermined by the laws of physics and a chain of events triggered eons ago.

However, for humanistic psychologists such as Maslow (1943) and Rogers (1951) freedom is not only possible but also necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings. Humanists are interested in the choice in how each of us reaches the road to self-actualization. They see self-actualization as a unique need to only humans which also set us apart from other creatures. It is this awareness that gives us the advantage of thought, of choice. The term used to describe free will in humanistic thought is called personal agency. It refers to one's capability to originate and direct actions for given purposes. It is influenced by the belief in one's effectiveness in performing specific tasks, which is termed self- efficacy, as well as by one's actual skill (Zimmerman & Cleary, 2006). Personal agency is achievable because humans are intelligent enough to foresee the consequences of our actions and is self-aware enough to exercise this free will. Kant and Hegel both thought that our mental abilities, particularly our ability to reason, gave us free will. We make choices based on our knowledge of the world, and thereby obtain the desired result.

Empowerment

One common therapeutic technique in humanistic psychology is the client-centered approach, which aims to empower the client and focus more on the client itself. This empowerment acknowledges the presence of strengths and weaknesses and a range of skills that are used in everyday situations and the awareness that other people have their own set of values and goals which may different to ours.

It has been interesting that this positive approach towards the client gained a lot of positive outcomes. (i.e with the use of self-awareness). Self-awareness involves understanding our individual character and how we are likely to respond to situations. This enables us to build on our positive qualities and be aware of any negative traits which may reduce our effectiveness. Self-aware individuals make conscious decisions to enhance their lives whenever possible, learning from past experiences. It just shows that conscious reflection on our own behavior is seen as the best way of achieving goals and learning from mistakes (Chorney, et al., 1998). Calculating our strategies, organizing our thoughts before making a move, are key elements in governing the choices that we make every day but also helping us make the right choices in differing situations.

Free will on Suicide

Humanists seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs. They use reason, experience and respect for others when thinking about moral issues, not obedience to dogmatic rules. They promote fulfillment in this life because they believe it is the only one we have. They respect the human need for happiness and personal autonomy and choice, but also recognize a general duty to respect and preserve life. (Glover, 2007)

However, not everyone is capable organizing their thoughts and making the right decisions. Sometimes, these bad decisions keep piling on until it leads them to the point of wanting to end their lives. Thus, the concept of suicide comes in.

Having the free will to carve our own path and make our own choices would also mean we have a hand in deciding whether we want to continue our existence. This is one of the unseen negative sides in the concept of free will. This leads us to the question, "Am I the master of my own fate?" "Am I really entitled to end my own life, given the free will to do so?"

Many religious people consider suicide wrong, because matters of life and death are felt to be for God to decide. This is not a convincing argument for people who do not believe in a god. Humanists would judge each situation individually, considering the wishes of those involved, the alternatives and the possible consequences.