The 'Self' is the source of human beings' Decision-making process: A Critical examination on theories of free will

The concept of „free will‟ states that when more than one alternative is available to an individual, he/she chooses freely and voluntarily to render an action in a given context. A question arises, how do human beings choose to perform an action in a given context? What happens to an individual to choose an action out of many alternatives? The free will theorists claim that free will guides individuals to choose an action voluntarily. Therefore, he/she is morally responsible for his/her voluntary actions. This paper attempts to answer whether a person‟s action is an outcome of his/her free will or brain processes? While answering this question, it examines the relation between free will and the principle of causality. It analyses participation of free will for human beings‟ decision-making process(es) for voluntary actions and therefore acceptance of moral responsibility for that action. This paper submits that human beings use their „free will‟ to decide the course of an action and therefore they „own‟ their actions. This paper also tries to trace the source of human voluntary actions to „free will‟ and submits that the experience of „free will‟ is an outcome of the experience of „self‟.