Free Will

[bennyboy]

It is no more a part of compatibilism than it is of the idea that free will and determinism are incompatible.  In all of the discussions of free will, there is something that is described as having free will, or not having free will, depending on the position taken.

If one takes the position that there is no self, no will, then there is nothing being discussed that can be said to be free, nor that can be said to be not free.

If you are not, then it would be incorrect to say that you are free, and equally incorrect to say that you are not free.  If there is no you, then neither "you are free" nor "you are not free" would be about anything.

I think what you are saying is right. However, I would rephrase it: I would say that free will is as real as the self is. I wouldn't say there's a wrong perspective, either. In the sense of QM particles dancing in space, I don't think the rather arbitrary divisions in particle density in one space and another really mean much, though we call them "mom" or whatever. Certainly, from the perspective of the very small, all of what it means to be human seems meaningless.

But when we start talking about how great Mom is, and what a nag Aunt Ethel is, and how I dream of being a famous heavy metal rap star some day, then doing all that but denying free will is like believing in the Pantheon but removing Dionysus because you think he's just not believable.

This is an idea that's not popular here, but I think that reality is context-dependent. My desk REALLY is solid, occupying a volume, in the context of my experience of using it. It is also REALLY 99.999999% empty space, in the context of modern ideas about physics. I'd say that in the context of a physical view of the human organism, including brain function, then free will doesn't make much sense-- at best, it's the name for the function of particular brain parts. However, in the context of living a human life, free will is at least as real as beauty, love, and everything else that defines us.

So I don't think reality is unambiguous, and our multiple views either right or wrong. I think reality is ambiguous, and that it is our perspective that defines the context by which reality becomes apparent.