Free will is the ability of agents to make choices unconstrained
by certain factors. Factors of historical concern have included metaphysical
constraints (such as logical, nomological, or theological determinism),
physical constraints (such as chains or imprisonment), social constraints (such
as threat of punishment or censure, or structural constraints), and mental
constraints (such as compulsions or phobias, neurological disorders, or genetic
predispositions). The principle of free will has religious,
legal, ethical, and scientific
implications.[1]
For example, in the religious realm, free will implies that individual will and choices can coexist
with an omnipotent
divinity.
In the law, it affects considerations of punishment
and rehabilitation. In ethics, it may hold
implications for whether individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. In science,
neuroscientific findings regarding free will
may suggest different ways of predicting human behavior.
This important issue has been widely
debated throughout history, including not only whether free will exists but
even how to define the concept. Historically, the constraint of dominant
concern has been determinism of some variety (such as logical, nomological, or
theological), so the most prominent common positions are named for the relation
they hold to exist between free will and determinism. Those who define free
will as freedom from determinism are called incompatibilists,
as they hold determinism to be incompatible with free will. The two main
incompatibilist positions are 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 posits that indeterminism
is also incompatible with free will, and thus either way free will is not
possible.
Those who define free will
otherwise, without reference to determinism, are called compatibilists,
because they hold determinism to be compatible with free will. Some
compatibilists hold even that determinism is necessary for free will,
arguing that choice involves preference for one course of action over another,
a process that requires some sense of how choices will turn out.[2][3]
Compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard
determinists over free will vs determinism a false dilemma.[4]
Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of what free will
even means, taking different types of constraints to be relevant to the issue;
but because all agree that determinism is not the relevant concern, they are
traditionally grouped together under this common name.to be continued....
