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The degree to which biological and environmental factors have on human behavior is a hotly debated topic. Highly empowered individuals sometimes argue that their state is a result of unfettered choice, while the more downtrodden are likely to attribute their state to poor biology, or society. We would like to believe that we may overcome our undesirable tendencies. While it is apparent that one’s nature and nurture certainly fetter’s capacity to choose, it is a grievous oversimplification of the issue to say that this removes agency.
Our brains give us the necessary hardware to exercise our ability to choose. The structure of the human brain has the same identifiable parts as what is widely considered the mammalian brain. However, we have a much more brain in the front. Our highly developed and well-connected prefrontal cortex allows us to be capable of metacognition and self-awareness. Humans have a unique aptitude for evaluating the choices they make, which increases their capability to exercise moral agency.
Everyone has a different capacity for making certain choices. All people’s capacity is limited. The frontal cortex of the brain handles executive function. Individual differences in genetic makeup, neural pathways, and chemistry effectively give each person a different pre-frontal brain to work with. People that exhibit lower levels of certain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, cortisol, or serotonin, can be more depressed or anxious. It’s generally harder for these people to choose to exert themselves due to fear or apathy because their limbic system isn’t firing quite right. Someone that suffers from bipolar disorder has an amygdala that lets emotions swing rapidly. It may require more effort for them to make decisions because everything has an increased emotional weight. Habits also affect our effective options for decision-making. Neurons that fire together, wire together. Habits are difficult to break because the neural pathways to carry out those actions are more developed. Traumatic experiences can reduce someone’s capacity to function because they cause the brain to fire in ways it can’t handle, causing latent effects for later experiences. Whatever we may suffer with, we only have so much energy to put into decision-making.
The natural man is considered by many to be part of us that is instinctual and associated with the lower or reptilian’ brain. Giving in to the natural man is the same concept as following all your impulses. The more often people what they’ve learned in their working memory, the more their executive functionality helps them override their impulses and choose something else.
Agency is simply defined as the ability to act. It’s something that you either have or you don’t. I act freely often. For example, I decided to ask the girl who sits next to me in class on a date. Nothing was stopping me from doing that. There was a time in my life when I felt like my choices were extremely limited. After seven months of missionary service, I was pseudo-diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and prescribed medication that made me much worse. It was explained to me that I was an emotional diabetic’ and that I would be dependent on some sort of medication for the rest of my life. Due to the medication mishap, I couldn’t think straight or feel anything except sadness. I did not have the capability of choosing to be happy. My choices were limited, and my circumstances certainly had my capacity fettered. Luckily, my executive function and reasoning abilities allowed me to make choices that would affect me in the long run. After a tremendous and extended effort to adapt, change and grow, I’m proud to say that I got a clean bill of health from a psychiatrist before I returned home. In all of this, I had never lost the ability to act. Unless they don’t have a brain anymore, nobody ever loses their agency. In each instance, people just have a different set of choices before them.
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