Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Free will \Free will\
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A will free from improper coercion or restraint.
To come thus was I not constrained, but did On my free will.
--Shak. The power asserted of moral beings of willing or choosing without the restraints of physical or absolute necessity.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 A person's natural inclination; unforced choice. 2 (context philosophy English) The ability to choose one's actions, or determine what reasons are acceptable motivation for actions, without predestination, fate etc. n. 1 A person's natural inclination; unforced choice. 2 (context philosophy English) The ability to choose one's actions, or determine what reasons are acceptable motivation for actions, without predestination, fate etc.
WordNet
n. the power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies [syn: discretion]
Wikipedia
Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame. There are numerous different concerns about threats to the possibility of free will, varying by how exactly it is conceived, which is a matter of some debate.
Some conceive free will to be the capacity for an agent to make choices in which the outcome has not been determined by past events. Determinism suggests that only one course of events is possible, which is inconsistent with the existence of such free will. This problem has been identified in ancient Greek philosophy, and remains a major focus of philosophical debate. This view that conceives free will to be incompatible with determinism is called incompatibilism, and encompasses both metaphysical libertarianism, the claim that determinism is false and thus free will is at least possible, and hard determinism, the claim that determinism is true and thus free will is not possible. It also encompasses hard incompatibilism, which holds not only determinism but also its negation to be incompatible with free will, and thus free will to be impossible whatever the case may be regarding determinism.
In contrast, compatibilists hold that free will is compatible with determinism. Some compatibilists even hold that determinism is necessary for free will, arguing that choice involves preference for one course of action over another, requiring a sense of how choices will turn out. Compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard determinists over free will vs determinism a false dilemma. Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of what "free will" even means, and consequently find different types of constraints to be relevant to the issue. Classical compatiblists considered free will nothing more than freedom of action, considering one free of will simply if, had one counterfactually wanted to do otherwise, one could have done otherwise without physical impediment. Contemporary compatibilists instead identify free will as a psychological capacity, such as to direct one's behavior in a way responsive to reason. And there are still further different conceptions of free will, each with their own concerns, sharing only the common feature of not finding the possibility of determinism a threat to the possibility of free will.
Free Will is a 2012 book by the American author and neuroscientist Sam Harris. Harris argues that the truth about the human mind (that free will is an illusion) does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of political and social freedom, and can as well as should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.
Free Will is the fifth studio album by American rapper Freeway. The album was released on April 29, 2016, by Babygrande Records.
Free Will is the second studio album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron, released in August 1972 on Flying Dutchman Records. Recordings sessions for the album took place on March 2 and 3, 1972 at RCA Studios in New York City, and production was handled by producer Bob Thiele. It is the follow-up to Scott-Heron's critically acclaimed studio debut, Pieces of a Man (1971), and it is the second album to feature him working with keyboardist Brian Jackson. Free Will is also Scott-Heron's final studio album for Flying Dutchman. The album reissued on compact disc in 2001 by Bluebird Records. In 2003, Free Will was reissued by BMG/Japan with alternative takes of eight tracks from the original album.
In philosophy, free will is the ability of agents to make choices unconstrained by certain factors
Free will may also refer to:
- Free will in theology
- Free will in the Bible
- Freedom of choice
- Free will theorem
- Neuroscience of free will
- Volition (psychology)
- Will (philosophy)
- Will (sociology)
- Free Will, a 1972 soul album
- Free Will, a 2012 book by Sam Harris
- Free-Will, a Japanese independent record label
- "Freewill", a song by Rush
- The Free Will, (German: Der freie Wille) 2006 film
Usage examples of "free will".
Do you accept this path without hesitation and of your own free will?
And she had repeated those words loudly and of her own free will, with her hand resting on her brother's breast, and God Himself looking down upon her, for she had called upon Him to listen.
Never knowed a man yet with balls enough to wade into a mountain of dirty dishes of his own free will.
And he says that you should remember that although your God allows you free will, he too has plans.
Supposedly, the zombie was raised from the dead, without free will or a soul.
Indeed, his whole action since the fight had ended seemed rather to have been upon the impulse of those around him than from his own free will.