Humans have free will in the sense that they ultimately have choice, however, external and internal forces direct them to make certain choices. To have free will, one must be able to say “I could have chosen otherwise” after making a choice. Even if the alternate choices are unwise or undesirable, if one still has choice without direct external constraints, they have free will. This is a compatibilist response to the free will question. A choice is an fork in the road where one can complete either 2 or more actions. The actions don’t have to be equal in terms of anything—value/payoff, ease, simplicity. A choice could be the option of paying $0.25 for a gum ball or breaking into a gum ball machine using a blowtorch to steal the gum ball—the first choice is obviously simpler and comes with little to no
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One may have the predisposition to prefer quiet solitude over loud events, however, if they desire a second order desire, say a study partner, they made make the choice to overcome the first order desire for quiet to achieve the second order desire of a partner by going to a social event. Choices can be influenced, but they are still not determined. An important distinction is that choice and action are separate, and free will concerns choice more than action resulting from choice. One choses to flip off a diving board on their own free will, and even if they don’t land the flip, they still made the choice to attempt, even if they couldn’t follow through on the choice. This relates to moral responsibility in cases of attempted murder:
Case 1: Person A shoots person B with a gun assuming the gun was loaded, and finds out after pulling the trigger the gun fires blanks. Person B does not die. Person A intended to kill B, but failed.
Case 2: Person A shoots person B with a gun assuming the gun was loaded, which it is. Person B dies. Person A intended to kill B and
One may have the predisposition to prefer quiet solitude over loud events, however, if they desire a second order desire, say a study partner, they made make the choice to overcome the first order desire for quiet to achieve the second order desire of a partner by going to a social event. Choices can be influenced, but they are still not determined. An important distinction is that choice and action are separate, and free will concerns choice more than action resulting from choice. One choses to flip off a diving board on their own free will, and even if they don’t land the flip, they still made the choice to attempt, even if they couldn’t follow through on the choice. This relates to moral responsibility in cases of attempted murder:
Case 1: Person A shoots person B with a gun assuming the gun was loaded, and finds out after pulling the trigger the gun fires blanks. Person B does not die. Person A intended to kill B, but failed.
Case 2: Person A shoots person B with a gun assuming the gun was loaded, which it is. Person B dies. Person A intended to kill B and