Title: Compatibilism and Incompatibilism are compatible. : philosophy
Headings: Compatibilism and Incompatibilism are compatible.
Compatibilism and Incompatibilism are compatible.
Compatibilism and Incompatibilism are compatible.
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Content: The compatibilist notion of free will has a lot to do with what we might call desire or intent. It doesn't matter if you are causally determined or not when you picked up the ball, if picking up the ball is what you intended or desired to do, you acted as a free agent. If someone forced you to pick up the ball when you didn't intend to, you did not act as a free agent. Its a useful definition of free will if we want to preserve any kind of moral intuitions about responsibility in actions. The incompatibilist notion of free will has nothing to do with intent or desire and is more to do with the possibility for control. It doesn't matter whether or not you desired to pick up the ball or someone made you pick up the ball, if you have no possibility to lay some claim to controlling the outcome, you did not act as a free agent. The hard determinist is going to extend this a bit further by saying you can never possibly lay claim to controlling any of your outcomes, because you don't control the past or the laws of nature. Libertarians are going to say you can to some or all of them. In the case that determinism is incorrect, due to some kind randomness or whatever, some might still say you never act as a free agent since you cant control the outcome of whatever falsifies determinism. I don't know what the view that determinism and free will are incompatible with each other and both false is called, but i think that most accurately describes what I believe.