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Although the concept of psychic determinism is generally accepted without qualification as an aspect of scientific causality, it sometimes appears difficult to reconcile it with the feeling of freedom of will. One of Freud's (1) statements about this was to the effect that the belief in psychic freedom is deep-rooted but unscientific, and that 'it must give ground before the claims of a determinism which governs even mental life'. This was written before he introduced the structural point of view, and the purpose of this brief note is to mention that the recognition of the subsequently-developed concept of intra-systemic differentiation of function within the ego permits an understanding of the concurrent existence of both concepts without either giving one up, as Freud suggests, or making any compromise with determinism, such as, for example, Glover's (2). The latter writes that the 'concept of psychic determinism is one that usually provokes discomfort in the minds of laymen as well as metaphysicians', and goes on to suggest that the difficulty can be overcome by remembering that in so far as the ego gains mastery over unconscious impulses, 'it may rightly claim it has acquired some "freed-will"'.
The feeling of freedom of will seems to be one of the subjective sensations of the normal ego, originating, presumably, in the awareness of the ego's mastery over unconscious impulses. The feeling persists despite the intellectual acquisition of the principle of causality; even the subsequent analysis of a specific action felt to be freely chosen does not dispel the feeling. For example, one may choose a number at random, analyse its determinants by means of free association, yet still retain the feeling that the number was chosen at random, and, of course, retain the feeling that one is again free to make a random choice. Conversely, reactions outside the range of the feeling of freewill are commonly felt as symptoms or other types of ego-dystonic intrusions.
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