Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos  I have no idea what the average person means by free will. Do you know? Is it like what the average person means by energy or quantum?
Is this definition compatible with determinism and randomness?
~~ Paul |
That sounds amusing, but is actually nonsense! The average person knows nothing about quantum mechanics, and uses energy in its more traditional way (science pinched the word and gave it a rather different meaning). Conversely, they have direct experiential knowledge of free will.
I suspect that free will is not compatible with determinism with or without randomness, but that is not the point, asking for a precise definition of a term like this is either an unfair put-down (because actually nobody can give a satisfactory definition) or invites a spurious definition followed by an equally spurious discussion.
Consider for example Bertvan's definition:
"I define free will as the ability to evaluate available information and make unpredictable, fallible, subjective choices based upon that evaluation."
I guess that could be satisfied by any old computer system with some sort of data input - say a mouse - and a true random number generator. Obviously he does not wish to include that (I presume) as an example of something with free will, but people find it so hard to refuse a request for a definition!
I think that to make a stab at discussing these things, you really have to accept the folk meanings of terms like 'free will', consciousness, etc.
David