"Free will is the notional capacity or ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded."
The study of the nature of moral responsibility and agency, and whether human actions are predetermined or not.
Metaphysics: The philosophical branch that investigates the nature of reality, including what it means to have free will.
Determinism: The theory that every event, including human actions and decisions, is ultimately determined by prior causes and cannot be changed.
Indeterminism: The theory that randomness or chance plays a role in human actions and decisions, and therefore, free will is possible.
Compatibilism: The theory that even if determinism is true, human freedom and moral responsibility are compatible with it.
Libertarianism: A form of indeterminism that asserts that humans have free will, and their decisions are not entirely determined by prior causes.
Agent Causation: A libertarian view that holds that agent causation is necessary to explain free will. It suggests that agents can initiate a causal chain without being determined by prior causes.
Hard Determinism: The view that determinism is true, and free will is an illusion.
Soft Determinism: The view that determinism is compatible with free will.
Causal Determinism: The view that every event, including human actions, is causally determined by prior causes.
Fatalism: A form of determinism that suggests that all events, including human actions, are predetermined and cannot be avoided.
Psychological Determinism: The view that human behavior is determined by psychological factors, such as beliefs, desires, and emotions.
Moral Responsibility: The concept that individuals are responsible for their actions and should be held accountable for them.
Biology vs. Environment: The debate over whether genetics or environmental factors have a greater influence on human behavior and decision-making.
Consciousness: The nature of consciousness and how it relates to free will and human agency.
Self-Control: The ability of individuals to regulate their behavior and make decisions for themselves, despite external pressures or internal conflicts.
Neuroscience: The study of the brain and its role in human behavior, including how it relates to free will.
Evolutionary Biology: The role of evolutionary factors in shaping human behavior and decision-making.
Ethics: The study of moral principles and values, including how they relate to free will and moral responsibility.
Theology: Views on free will from religious perspectives, such as predestination in Christianity or karma in Hinduism.
Quantum Mechanics: How quantum mechanics theory might relate to free will, as it suggests that some events occur due to indeterminacy or randomness.
Libertarian Free Will: According to this view, Free Will is the ability to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or external factors, but are instead caused by the individual's own free choice. Libertarianism holds that human beings have a non-deterministic, self-caused or uncaused will that is capable of initiating new causal chains.
Hard Determinism: This view holds that Free Will is an illusion, because all our actions are caused by factors outside of our control. A hard determinist would say that everything we do is predetermined by events that happened before we were even born, and that we have no real control over our actions.
Compatibilism: According to compatibilism, Free Will is compatible with determinism. This means that even if our actions are causally determined by prior factors, we can still be considered to have Free Will if we are able to act in accordance with our desires, without external coercion or constraint.
Semi-Compatibilism: This view holds that while determinism and Free Will are compatible, indeterminacy or randomness still operates within the context of Free Will, thereby making the concept of Free Will somewhat limited or ambiguous.
Existentialist Free Will: In contrast to other views, existentialism claims that we can create our own meaning from life, despite the absence of inherent meaning, and that our choices are a product of our own consciousness, rather than any external determinant. Thus, while we may be influenced by factors beyond our control, ultimately how we perceive and act in the world is determined by our own individual experience and responsibility.
Theological Free Will: This conception of Free Will tends to view God as the ultimate source of Free Will, through his intervention or grace, among other mechanisms.
Predestination: In some religious contexts, it is believed that God has predetermined the fate of individuals, and that Free Will plays little to no role in determining one's course in life.
Fatalism: This view holds that events in the future are predetermined and therefore, humans have no control over their fate. Some determinists may hold fatalist beliefs.
Agent Causation Free Will: This view claims that an agent can initiate new causal chains without being caused by any prior events, via a self-caused event initiated by the agent.
"Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen."
"It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition."
"Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame."
"The implications of whether free will exists or not are some of the longest running debates of philosophy and religion."
"Some conceive of free will as the ability to act beyond the limits of external influences or wishes."
"Some conceive free will to be the capacity to make choices undetermined by past events."
"Determinism suggests that only one course of events is possible, which is inconsistent with a libertarian model of free will."
"Ancient Greek philosophy identified this issue, which remains a major focus of philosophical debate."
"The view that conceives free will as incompatible with determinism is called incompatibilism."
"Incompatibilism encompasses both metaphysical libertarianism (the claim that determinism is false and thus free will is at least possible) and hard determinism (the claim that determinism is true and thus free will is not possible)."
"Hard incompatibilism holds not only determinism but also indeterminism to be incompatible with free will and thus free will to be impossible whatever the case may be regarding determinism."
"Compatibilists hold that free will is compatible with determinism."
"Some compatibilists even hold that determinism is necessary for free will, arguing that choice involves preference for one course of action over another, requiring a sense of how choices will turn out."
"Compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard determinists over free will vs. determinism a false dilemma."
"Classical compatibilists considered free will nothing more than freedom of action, considering one free of will simply if, had one counterfactually wanted to do otherwise, one could have done otherwise without physical impediment."
"Contemporary compatibilists instead identify free will as a psychological capacity, such as to direct one's behavior in a way responsive to reason."
"Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of what 'free will' means and consequently find different types of constraints to be relevant to the issue."
"There are still further different conceptions of free will, each with their own concerns, sharing only the common feature of not finding the possibility of determinism a threat to the possibility of free will."
"Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen."