Choice

What is choice?

What mental ability is required to make a choice?

Choice could be considered to be; the awareful option to take an alternate action.

It seems fundamental that the individual should be aware of the option, because without that awareness, they would be simply taking an action because either they believe it is their only option, or they don't comprehend the concepts involved in their own action resulting in a different outcome.

So the minimal mental ability to be able to make a choice, seems to be the mental comprehension that the individual themselves, are able to cause an alternate result, by their action. In order to comprehend that an alternate action can cause an alternate result, they should be able to comprehend the concept of cause and effect. They must be able to understand that alternate effects are possible as a result of an alternate cause. They also must be able to comprehend that they are able to alter that cause of that effect.

It should be possible that the individual does not comprehend the concept of cause and effect, in general, as long as they can have the awareness of cause and effect within the specific circumstances. But by my understanding, in most circumstances, most animals do not even have this minimal comprehension. This is if animals mostly act on subconscious feedback, by simply taking the action which has the most significant feedback, connected to the memory most resembling the current scenario. Also, similarly, animals don’t seem to use comprehension if they act on instinctual feedback, as then they are taking an action based on feedback to basic situations, which is triggered by genetics (rather than memory).

But for an individual to actually comprehend their ability to take an alternate action, and therefore cause an alternate effect, they should be able to access the information of both potential actions, and both potential results caused by each action. If the individual can simultaneously access memory of that information, they should then effectively comprehend, in that moment, that they have the capability to cause an alternate result.

The key for the ability to make a choice, seems to be conscious comprehension. An individual needs to have the capability to be aware that they have a choice, and that their action can cause a different outcome. In order to be aware of alternate potential outcomes, they need to comprehend the cause and effect of the options. If they are conscious of the cause and effect of their actions, relative to the results, they can then cause that which is most preferable to them, by making their choice.