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Message Subject Free Will
Poster Handle Confucius_Say
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Free will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded. Factors that might impede choice include metaphysical constraints (particularly forms of determinism such as logical, physical, biological, social or theological determinism),[1] physical constraints (such as the requirements of the laws of science), social constraints (such as threat of punishment, censure, or imprisonment), 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.[2] For example, in the religious realm, free will implies that individual will and choices can coexist with an omnipotent, omniscient divinity that raises certain injunctions or moral obligations for man. 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.

Though it is a commonly held intuition that we have free will,[3] it has been widely debated throughout history not only whether that is true, but even how to define the concept of free will.[4] How exactly must the will be free, what exactly must the will be free from, in order for us to have free will?

Historically, the constraint of dominant concern has been determinism of some variety (such as logical, nomological, or theological), so the two most prominent common positions are named incompatibilist or compatibilist for the relation they hold to exist between free will and determinism.

Those who find free will cannot coexist with determinism are called incompatibilists, as they hold determinism to be incompatible with free will.[5] 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. The view that denies both that the universe is determined and that free will exists, while logically possible, has no adherents [6]

Those who find free will can coexist with determinism, are called compatibilists, because they hold determinism to be compatible with free will.[7] Some compatibilists even hold 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.[8][9] Compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard determinists over free will vs determinism a false dilemma.[10] Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of what free will even means, and consequently find different types of constraints to be relevant to the issue. Because all compatibilists agree that determinism is not the relevant concern, they are traditionally grouped together under this common name.
 
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