Free-Will and Possibilities

Abstract

Every month some one pronounces that science must be rejected if we are to preserve a belief in human freedom, or that only by a faith in freedom that flies in the face of logic and the principle of causality can democracy be justified. Equally often other authors insist that the increase of knowledge in the science of human behavior makes plain the irrelevance and sentimentality of pious talk about free and rational choice. What is the source of this dispute? Why is no resolution of it arrived at?

The Role of Regret in Informed Consent

“…Anticipated regret (and its reverse, satisfaction), then, is a part of the holistic response we feel toward any crucial choice whose outcome may profoundly affect our lives for good or ill (Hay 1957). It bears a complex relationship to subjective assessments of risk.…”

“…It frequently happens that someone will say "I think I'm going to regret doing this", or "You'll regret making that allegation", just as it is common to say "I regret having done that." Hay writes "…it is in terms of imagined possibilities as possible alternatives that human choice and regret take place", thus firmly linking choice and regret (Hay 1957). Regret is a familiar part of the currency of everyday discourse.…”