Free will

Free will is the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain factors. Factors of
historical concern have included metaphysical constraints (such as logical, nomological, or
theological determinism),
[1]
physical constraints (such as chains or imprisonment), social
constraints (such as threat of punishment or censure), and mental constraints (such as
compulsions or phobias, neurological disorders, or genetic predispositions). The principle of free
will has religious, legal, ethical, and scientific implications.
[2]
For example, in the religious realm,
free will implies that individual will and choices can coexist with an omnipotent, omniscient
divinity that raises certain injunctions or moral obligations for man. In the law, it affects
considerations of punishment and rehabilitation. In ethics, it may hold implications for whether
individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. In science, neuroscientific findings
regarding free will may suggest different ways of predicting human behavior.

A simplified taxonomy of philosophical positions regarding free will and determinism.
Though it is a commonly-held intuition that we have free will,
[3]
it has been widely debated
throughout history not only whether that is true, but even how to define the concept of free will.
[4]

How exactly must the will be free, what exactly must the will be free from, in order for us to have
free will?
Historically, the constraint of dominant concern has been determinism of some variety (such as
logical, nomological, or theological), so the most prominent common positions are named for the
relation they hold to exist between free will and determinism. Those who define free will as
freedom from determinism are called incompatibilists, as they hold determinism to be
incompatible with free will. The two main incompatibilist positions are 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. Hard
incompatibilism posits that indeterminism is also incompatible with free will, and thus either way
free will is not possible.
Those who define free will otherwise, without reference to determinism, are called compatibilists,
because they hold determinism to be compatible with free will. Some compatibilists hold even
that determinism is necessary for free will, arguing that choice involves preference for one course
of action over another, a process that requires some sense of how choices will turn out.
[5][6]

Compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard determinists over free will
vs determinism a false dilemma.
[7]
Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of what
free will even means, taking different types of constraints to be relevant to the issue; but because
all agree that determinism is not the relevant concern, they are traditionally grouped together
under this common name.