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Dear Peter,

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You wrote :

« Joe Biden won the 2020 election against Donald Trump, when Kamala Harris, also a Democrat, could not in 2024? Why? I hope this question has been answered »
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Having closely observed events leading up to the US presidential election and reflected on the results, I think I have a fair idea of why Kamala Harris lost to Trump.

Perhaps you indicated in your article the reason why she lost, but I can’t say I noticed it personally. But please don’t be offended if you did. I have difficulty understanding the subtleties of academic language. If things are not stated plainly and clearly, it usually passes way over my head.

Free will, which you discuss at great length in your article, is a different matter. That is something I do understand.

I see free will as a functional advantage developed by nature. It is autonomy, the autonomy of the individual. Its acquisition and development are progressive. It is an evolutive mode of functioning. It has been evolving ever since the apparition of life on earth of which human beings are by far the most advanced form. We have long surpassed all other forms of life and all other animal species in terms of autonomy and continue to make progress, generation after generation. Though there may be important differences in the rate of development of autonomy among individuals due to all the variables that contribute to its evolution, progress is nevertheless achieved during the lifetime of each individual. Beneficial mutations and experiences continue to accumulate over time, multiplying and diversifying choice patterns to an ever-greater degree of complexity until the individual is no longer held to obey any particular predetermined course of behaviour, gaining in the autonomy we call free will.

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Autonomy or free will implies that the individual is capable of governing himself, of determining his own thoughts and actions without, or in spite of, outside influence. He must clearly be in the driving seat. He must exercise what we call self-control. Self-control is an integral component of autonomy. If there is no self-control, there is no autonomy. The degree of autonomy is determined by the degree of self-control and vice versa.

As the individual continues to emerge and develop free will, his vision of society and the environment in which he evolves takes on a new perspective. He develops a greater awareness of his earthly condition and the nature of his existence and life in general.

The emerging faculty to extract himself from his environment and observe himself as an individual is fuelled by that innate, basic emotion we call curiosity which mankind shares with other animal species. Our curiosity and need for understanding leads us to develop a capacity for abstract thought and imagination when no obvious rational explanation is available. It is a gradual evolutionary process that allows us to develop the capacity to project our minds beyond perceived reality in our quest for an explanation. Conscience and free will continue to emerge as a result of this development.

Enough said. I think I’d better leave it at that, Peter. I’m obviously off on a completely different tack to yours.

As all good men of the sea know well : "There can be no fair wind in uncharted waters".

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