Defining free will – Schopenhauer and compatibilism

Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)

In the last post about determinism and free will it was stated that according to the determinism definition and the examples we’ve dealt with it is impossible to prove that we have free will. In fact, deterministic reasoning suggests that we have no free will; however, there are various branches of determinism – for instance compatibilism (since William James called also soft determinism). What’s the definition of compatibilism and what’s so interesting about it? The interesting part of it is probably combining free will with determinism – according to compatibilism free will can exist even if our actions are determined.

You may wonder how it is possible but as you’ll see the answer is really easy. It’s all about defining free will correctly (from the compatibilists’ point o view of course). It is possible to define free will in such a way that – despite deterministic limitations – free will will be still free (though it will not be free from determinants). Take a closer look to the definition of free will by Arthur Schopenhauer:

Determinism and free will

In the post about materialism and substance dualism we’ve briefly dealt with the problem of making decisions (such as standing up). But did you really have free will to actually decide to stand up? Well, according to the determinism theory you did not. Why did you stand up then? Determinism definition states that all events are ultimately determined by causes which are independent of the will. There are many examples of determinism and – as in the case of most philosophical theories – there are various branches of determinism including soft and hard determinism (known also as compatibilism and metaphysical determinism). If you want to see how determinism works practically, click "read more" (or if you already did then start reading the next paragraph…