Section 1.1
How Philosophers Define Free Will
Free will is generally understood as the capacity to choose between different possible courses of action, to exercise the control over one's actions that moral responsibility requires, or to be the ultimate source or originator of one's actions.Free will - WikipediaFree will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to either choose between different possible courses of action,[1] exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral responsibility, or be the ultimate source or originator of their actions.
Open source Philosophers emphasise these aspects differently, which is why the question can seem to shift from one discussion to the next.
Free will and responsibility
The idea is tied closely to blame and praise. Some philosophers go so far as to define free will as the strongest control condition necessary for moral responsibility, whatever that condition turns out to be.Free Will (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Indeed, some go so far as to define ‘free will’ as
‘the strongest control condition—whatever that turns out
to be—necessary for moral responsibility’
Open source On this way of thinking, to ask what free will is, is to ask what kind of control an agent must have for it to be fair to hold her responsible.
Two commonly cited features
The two most commonly cited features of free will are the freedom to do otherwise and sourcehood. Some philosophers hold that free will consists only in the first or only in the second, while many hold that it involves both. The freedom to do otherwise is a modal property of agents, and it is controversial what kind of modality is involved; a widely endorsed view takes it to be ability or power.
Why the meaning is disputed
These features matter because of a further dispute about determinism. Compatibilists hold that free will is compatible with determinism, whereas incompatibilists hold that free will and determinism are mutually exclusive, so that we act freely only if determinism is false.Compatibilism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Compatibilism is the thesis that free will is
compatible with determinism.
Open sourceIncompatibilist (Nondeterministic) Theories of Free Will (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Incompatibilists hold that free will and determinism are mutually
exclusive and, consequently, that we act freely (i.e., with free will)
only if determinism is false.
Open source Whether free will exists and what follows if it does or does not is among the longest-running debates in philosophy.