As with most concepts of being and the nature of the human mind, there are many definitions and alternate viewpoints expressed when we look at the concepts of intelligence and free will. Before launching in to a deeper exploration of the two concepts, it is useful to retrieve a working definition of each from a standard dictionary. Webster’s New World College Dictionary (Neufeldt 702; 538) defines the concepts as follows:
The ability to learn or understand from experience; ability to acquire and retain knowledge; mental ability; use of the faculty of reason in solving problems, directing conduct, etc. effectively.
Freedom of decision or of choice between alternatives; the freedom of the will to choose a course of action without external coercion but in accordance with the ideals or moral outlook of the individual.
The above definition of intelligence seems to imply that we have free will because intelligence appears to allow us to “direct conduct” effectively. While hard determinism denies free will altogether, it is obvious human beings possess free will from the above definition. We use free will in matters small and large daily. For example, we are free to choose whether we prefer cereal or scrambled eggs at breakfast, and we are free to choose whether we wish to marry one person over another. Even when genetics and historical development are known, variation still exists in human behavior. This might be why we often hear the human factor in various equations labeled unpredictable. Free will does not mean we have to originate every thought or event in our lives, but that we do have the freedom to choose among alternatives.
Since free will equates to having the freedom to make choices on our own, we could say intelligence is related to free will in the sense that the more intelligence we possess the better choices we will make. Like free will, scientists and philosophers have yet to precisely characterize i...