[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by Ian

I do not agree there is a spectrum of meanings. People of sound commonsense understand there is only one meaning of free will.

All righty then.

I don't know what you mean by "state of affairs". I've said that the physical state of the Universe does not compel me to behave as I do (although it obviously heavily influences).

The thought experiment is to have two identical universes in all respects: physical, ideal, metaphysical, etc. Whatever your favorite metaphysic, please make two identical copies of the whole shebang. Now, would you make the same decision in both universes?

So what else? My psychological state? But ones psychological state is partly influenced by ones self. So you would have to say that I am not free because my self dictates what I do. But the self dictating ones actions is precisely what is meant by free will. So your position is absurd.

So in a physical world, my self is my brain. It dictates my actions. That is precisely what is meant by free will. My position isn't any different from yours. You just like the sound of your self being something ideal-ish rather than physical-ish. You don't mind your actions being predetermined as long as one of the causes of your actions is called "idealistic self."

~~ Paul