How Can We Have Moral Direction If God Controls Everything?

[Neo-Scholastic]

 

Free will has nothing to do with materialism or determinism.  It is merely a question of, is an entity able to react to the environment in a way that has value?  This implies that the entity makes a choice based on its values (whether they be survival, moral, etc.).

Free will is a mode of operation of a conscious being -- the ability to make choices that benefits it.  Whether that choice is metaphysically pre-determined is outside the realm of knowledge of the being.  It acts as if it is free.

Consider the alternative to determinism -- quantum-mechanical chance.  This does not make an entity more "free" according to my definition.  It merely adds randomness to the operation of the consciousness.  I would argue that randomness introduces errors in choice, and does not improve a being's ability to make a choice.  I could be wrong -- randomness could actually help if an algorithm is designed to use it (as in a monte-carlo or annealing simulation).

Now, what does anything non-material add to the discussion?  If there is a soul making choices (instead of the brain), on what rules does the soul operate?  Is it deterministic, or random?  How can some sort of "free will" agency exist without a logical framework such as a brain?  Postulating a soul merely creates a new problem, of how the soul operates.

I would tend to agree with most of what you said here. I think that a soul, is what adds the will to the equation.

Something like that. Happy is simply making an argument from ignorance. The only options presented are mechanical determinism or randomness? Are those truly the only two options? And is either of those nuanced enough? There is a distinction it seems between determined by circumstances and a willful act of determination. If there is a chance element then perhaps there is an option to load the dice in favor of a preferred outcome.