Determinism vs Free Will

There is no mind absolute or free will, but the mind is determined for willing this or that by a cause which is determined in its turn by another cause, and this one again by another, and so on to infinity.

(Benedictus de Spinoza, 1673)

It's an age old question. Do we have free will? Or are our actions predetermined by conditions of our environment, genes, and prior events?

It seems an easy analogy between these two situations:

The first - Waking up on a given day, we remember it is trash day, get dressed and proceed to collect and distribute the trash to the curb.

And the second - Tripping at the top of the stairs, we tumble down, step by step and are predictably in pain.

While we will readily acknowledge the second of these scenarios as lacking choice, we are less apt to do so with the first. The argument might go something like this...

I choose to take the trash out because otherwise it will accumulate and smell. Or I may choose not to take the trash out because there is a small amount this week and it's cold outside.

Both of these elements of reasoning include a 'because' factor which effectively determines our actions. Continue in this line of logic and one can readily come to the conclusion that all of our actions are predetermined.

Modern quantum physics suggest that there only exist probabilities of actions happening. For example, whenever we knock a cup off the counter, it has a very large likelihood of breaking into bits when it hits the floor. However there is an infinitesimally small chance of it actually passing through the floor! This may suggest that while it may seem that our actions are predetermined, that in fact there is are small probabilities for some actions occurring while others have a bit larger probabilities.

Like whether we take out the trash on a cold day... :)