Free will/evil/punishment

[Mudhammam]

The choice is in the choice.  The choice is in the freedom.  The freedom is in the choice. You are still asserting what's being asked. Again, non-thinking, non free-willing things can accomplish what you are describing. Do we do it some different way, that requires this -x-? Is acting without hindrance (whatever that means, however that could be accomplished) in accordance with your will (whatever that is) -free-, in some way other than as a matter of convention or manner of speech - and if so..can it actually be done- by you, or I? This is whats being asked. This is why repetition of terms which imply free will do not demonstrate that we actually -have- free will.

Huh? Non-thinking things can accomplish thoughtful deliberation? What is it you're trying to say? I would not describe a purely non-thinking, or irrational, process to be one that involves choice.

I'm continually unimpressed with your feigned ignorance ("whatever that means") of your opponent's usage of terms that---not only are commonly understood, as evidenced by a simple perusal of a dictionary---but have repeatedly been defined and cited by example, here and elsewhere, in the abundance of material written on the subject.

Anyway, a "deteminist" like Jerry Coyne defines free will as a decision which "reflects anything more than the laws of physics that impinge on your mind, as reflected through your genetic endowment and the environments you've experienced," whereas what I mean by free will is the process of surveying and selecting actions through rationalization, taking an account of your various instincts, passions, memories, predictions, etc., along with the qualitative experience of acquiescing the most compelling factor at that given moment, not involving restrictions by other internal or external influences which could be said to infringe upon the desires or reasons consistent with one's character.

A person whose nature it is to act compulsively experiences, and actually possesses, a lesser degree of freedom than another who ponders potential consequences that may result from different actions, just as a person who studies a variety of worldviews and their practical outcomes is more free to make an informed determination about his or her own beliefs than a person who is exposed to a single ideology.