LongKen - Free Will

Determinism suggests that our thoughts and actions are determined by external factors, while libertarians argue that events are not predetermined and we have free will. Compatibilists believe in both free will and determinism. People generally define free will as the ability to make choices that fulfill their desires without constraints. Despite living in a deterministic world, most people's intuitions align with compatibilism, which explains why we still feel like we make our own decisions. How do other philosophers explain free will? Determinism, external factors, not free will? Try our behavior. Determinists believe that we don't have free will and that our thoughts, desires, intentions, and choices are determined by events outside our control. Harris is one of many experts who argue that what we discover about the brain rules out the possibility that we have free will. In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari writes that neuroscientists have discovered that electrochemical processes in the brain create our thoughts and actions as a reaction to external stimuli. According to Harari, these reactions can be either predetermined as a direct response to a stimulus or completely random, the result of something unpredictable. But whether these reactions are predetermined or random, they can be free, according to Harari, because you are not conscious of them and can't control them. Libertarianism, external factors affect but don't determine our actions. Libertarians referring to the philosophical view. Libertarians referring to the philosophical view, not a political philosophy of the same name, believe that events are not predetermined and that we do have free will. Compatibilism, external factors cause our behavior but so does free will. Compatibilists believe that we have free will and they also believe in determinism. That means they accept free will and determinism as compatible truths. Some experts believe that how people actually think about free will is much simpler than the definition that Harari believes people are working with. One psychologist writes that most people refine free will as the ability to make choices that fulfill their desires without constraints. A definition that sounds a lot more similar to the compatibilist definition of free will than Harari's content. In fact, philosopher Sean Nichols explains that most people's intuitions about themselves and their decisions align with compatibilism. That might be why even if we believe we're living in a deterministic world we still feel that we are making our own decisions. Hello? Hello? Hello?