Thank you for the detailed answer.

Not only do we use different definitions of free will but also different approaches to the subject.

You are talking about the usefulness and practicality of the concept of free will for society. My original comment had nothing to do with that.

In any case, thanks for your time. I learned new things.

Please, help me to understand your position. Can you explain the difference between libertarian free will and what you understand under a free will?

Britannica seems to use a libertarian approach to define free will in general: "free will, in philosophy and science, the supposed power or capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event or state of the universe."

I agree. Cause->effect and starting point of something are basic things. Philosophy combines basic things into logical concepts to help us understand this world. You reject the classic doctrine of philosophy - hard determinism - by nothing but "it doesn't make sense" arguments.

You percept free will as a capacity to make a conscious choice. My point is that our capacity is pre-determined by consecutive interactions between our genes, life experiences, and external influences.

A piece of advice. If you want to be taken seriously on this sub and in life:

1. Try to comprehend what the other person is saying, even if your view is different.
2. Use sound arguments.

Good luck!

Thanks for the comment. I learned new things.

Your examples are presented as events separated from the past. If we isolate the situation from all prior events, then free will exists because you can consciously choose between a few options. Hence, compatibilism seems logical.

But if you try to track and connect all prior events, you'll see that you have been led to that situation and your decision.

In this thread, you can check my comment about inescapability from a trio of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances.

While I like your comment and appreciate your perspective, I disagree that thinking about the existence of free will is an impractical exercise with disastrous consequences. At least in my case, an idea about hard determinism gives me peace of mind and feel of harmony in our seemingly chaotic world.

Thank you for the excellent comment.

In my view, a human as a whole - body, thoughts, actions, etc. - at each moment is a dynamic product of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances (or, more precisely, external influences). The last two elements are ever-changing and interact between themselves and our genetic structure.

We think that we have free will because we have more choices compared to, let's say, a stone. But our free will is an illusion because a human's reactions are as pre-defined as stone's.

Let me elaborate.

Each human as a whole - body, thoughts, actions, etc. - is a dynamic product of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances (or, more precisely, external influences). The last two elements are ever-changing and interact between themselves and our genetic structure.

So, back to our example: the toddler chooses a banana over an apple. Why?

There can be many obvious and not obvious reasons for that choice.

Maybe it's color or taste or neuro association in the child's brain or whatever.

What matters is t-1 moment before the first *choice*, the combo of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances was out of the toddler's control. And that combo made the toddler choose a banana over an apple.

So, why do we call it free will if the toddler had no control over choosing a banana or apple?

A human's existence from conception to death is a sequence of moments -- seconds, milliseconds, and so on. Do we agree that up until some moment, a human cannot exercise a free choice? What free choice a newborn baby has?

Can we also agree that up to the moment of the first manifestation of what we view as a free choice, the prior moment has a combo of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances that are out of the child's control?

Each process and action has a beginning and end within a human's lifetime. So, what moment can we define as the beginning of free will?

In other words, can we define a moment when a person separates himself from a combo of genetics, life experiences, and external circumstances?

Here is a simple question about free will. At what exact moment of human life does it begin? We don’t choose race, family, time/place of birth, or other factors when we are born.

Naturally, children don’t have free will when they are born. They have a will because they manifest themselves by crying, etc., but their choices are unconscious.

So, let’s say that the first act of “free will” occurs when a toddler chooses a banana instead of an apple. That happens at 10:00:00 PST on March 12, 2022. So, at 9:59:59 PST on March 12, 2022, the toddler didn’t have free will and one second later, he magically did.

But what happened in that one second? Nothing magical. ALL events in his life + a myriad of other factors mechanically made him make that “choice.” One second later, he makes another “choice” and so on, before he kicks the bucket.

So at what point his choice became free from everything prior and everything present?