It seems to be a necessary (though not necessarily sufficient) condition for taking moral responsibility for one's actions. So being able to establish one's free will is necessary for justifiable moral praise / blame, let alone any ensuing reward / punishment.
Moreover, denial of free will can sometimes lead to Eliminativism / Fatalism / Nihilism. I.e., views that all events are predetermined / inevitable, making moral norms and perhaps even life itself, meaningless.
The Problem of Free Will
We all seem to have a notion of free will. However, just because we think we have free will doesn’t prove that we do have it.
We are faced with the reality that much of what we refer to as “choices” have already been [pre] determined (either due to global restrictions (e.g., laws of nature / causation) or more local extenuating circumstances (may limit what options are actually available to us).
Test Your Intuitions
It seems that I make my own choices everyday (e.g., my clothes). However, it also seems to me that many of our choices are “caused” by various factors (e.g., limited by what I own, what is clean, etc.) If I could not have chosen a different outfit, then did I freely choose the outfit I am wearing?
Definitions of "Free Will"
One's intuitions on the philosophical problem will largely be governed by how one understands / defines "free will"
“Could do otherwise” = You would have been able to do something different if you had wanted to. This means one is free in the sense that if they had desired to do something different than what they actually did, nothing would have prevented them from doing it.
This understanding of "free will" makes incompatibilism unavoidable in that there are obviously plenty of things that could potentially prevent someone from exercising their will.
Incompatibilism
The view that if determinism is true, no one can act freely (free will and determinism are incompatible). This also creates problems for the compatibility of theological notions like divine foreknowledge and free will.
Indeterminism
The view that not every event is determined by preceding events and / or the laws of nature
Hard Determinism
The view that free will does not exist, that no one acts freely because the universe is causally determined (by events from the past & laws of nature)
2. Where there's a will & a way
We can act freely as long as:
✓ Presence of Internal Will (psychological)
We have the power to do what we want, and
✓ Lack of External Barriers (physical)
Nothing is preventing us from doing it (for example, no one is restraining or coercing us)
This understanding of "free will" allows for some form of compatibilism to be possible, though there is still much debate over whether or not the predictability of one's choices undermines even this conception of free will. Others criticize this conception arguing that real freedom is not just the power to act if we will to, but power over the will itself.
Compatibilism
The view that although determinism is true, our actions can still be free
Soft Determinism
The doctrine that every event is determined by preceding events and the laws of nature
Libertarianism
The view that some actions are free, for they are ultimately caused, or controlled, by the person, or agent (i.e., agent causation)
