Free Will

Free Will

Free will is defined as the will or freedom of choice to make own decisions. The question of free will is whether rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. The dominant argument for this philosophical issue is on whether all events are determined or not. This is the determinism versus indeterminism. Also, they discuss whether freedom can coexist with determinism or not. This is the compatibilism versus incompatibilism.

The principle of free will has religious, ethical, and scientific implications. For example, in the religions, free will may imply that God does not assert its power over individual will and choices. In ethics, it may imply that individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. In the scientific realm, every single action is caused by physical attributes like neurons. The question of free will has been a central issue since the beginning of philosophical thought.

Indeterminism claims that there are events which do not correspond with determinism and therefore are either uncaused, or caused in a manner that the corresponding form of determinism does not allow. On the other hand, there are different types of determinism

holding the similar idea that our actions are determined by other factors not our will. In such case, determinism states that we have no free will as everything has been pre-determined. There are a few types of determinism. Casual determinism says that future events are necessitated by past and present events combined with the laws of nature. Logical determinism is the notion that all propositions, whether about the past, present or future, are either true or false. Theological determinism is the thesis that there is a God who determines all that humans will do. The problem of free will, in this context, is the problem of how our actions can be free, if there is a being who has determined them for us ahead of time. Biological determinism is the idea that all behavior, belief, and desire are fixed by our genetic endowment. (Wikipedia par.1)

Incompatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are logically incompatible categories. This could include believing that determinism is reality, therefore free will is an illusion (hard determinism), or that free will is true, therefore determinism is not (libertarianism), or even that neither determinism nor free will is true (pessimistic incompatibilism). The essence of incompatibilism is that free will can never exist because everything is already pre-determined. They strongly hold the opinion that morality and determinism cannot be compatible because no one will be responsible for something that have been determined before everything happens.

Compatibilism was led by the ancient Greek Stoics, Hobbes, Hume and many contemporary philosophers It is a theory that argues that free will and determinism can exist together because they are compatible

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