Free Will, Ethics, and the Universe: The Universal and Human Perspectives

This essay presents a unique approach to the subject of free will and ethics based on the idea that evolution has created us with two different perspectives on our world which are very different. The universal perspective arises from our "reflective consciousness" which is unique to humans, whereas the human perspective arises from our "self consciousness". Because we are human, we must live our lives by the dictates of the human perspective which incorporates free will and ethics.. In the authors opinion, the scientific alternative which is less than 500 years old can only be understood by looking at the evolution of the entire universe, starting with what we know about the Big Bang. In so doing, we are inevitably led to the conclusion that from the universal perspective we do not have free will and therefore the whole concept of ethics is meaningless. But ethics is not meaningless to us because we can't be other than human. Understanding and accepting the consequences of these two perspectives.