2. Definitions
 The definition of Free Will is the power of acting without the
constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own
discretion.
 The definition of Determinism is the doctrine that all
events, including human action, are ultimately determined by
causes external to the will.
 The definition of compatibilism is that free will and determinism are
compatible ideas, and that it is possible to believe both without
being logically inconsistent.
(Incompatibilism is very much the opposite as it suggests Free Will
and Determinism can not co-exist)
 The definition of Libertarian free will is the ability either to do
something or not. Free agency is the ability to do whatever a
person wants to do.

3. Knowledge issues
 We shall be looking at reasons Free Will is a real
concept as well as the implications it has on every
day life.
 Arguments that support necessitarianism (not
believing in the doctrine of free will).
 How severe would the ramifications of removing a
sense of free will from the general populous be?

4. What is Free will?
 Well, a lot of people define Free Will as ‘could of done otherwise’.
If at the given time a choice was made by a person and they used
their personal inclination to make a desired choice. However, if at
the same time they had felt differently about the situation they
could of used their own free will to make a different choice. This is
typically the out look that Libertarians maintain.
 The Idea that we live with or without Free Will (or even a mixture
of each to some extents) has been argued by some of the greatest
philosophical thinkers, from ancient Greek Philosophers like Plato
and Epicurus to contemporary thinkers such as Ricardo Salles
and David Furley. The Free Will argument dates back from 2000
years ago however the people who originally took up positions as
determinist, libertarian and compatibilist in antiquity cannot be said
for certain.

5. Why do we need a general
perception of Free Will?
 Some psychiatrists have conducted social experiments into the affects a
perception of Free Will plays in an individual. One in particular was one
conducted by Jonathan Schooler and Kathleen Vohs where they got one
half of the participants to read a passage extracted from ‘The Astonishing
Hypothesis’ by Francis Crick that was anti Free Will and the other half an
extract that was not.
 Following the extracts they were given surveys on their belief in free will.
They were then given 20 arithmetic questions on computer but were told a
bug in the system allowed the answer to be revealed by pushing the
space bar within the first 5 seconds of question appearing on screen.
 The results showed that those who read the anti Free Will text were more
likely to cheat. In fact there was a coloration of those who, in the
survey, stated a more extinguished belief in Free Will cheated more often.

6.  This experiment shows that the anti Free Will text, which presents a bleak
worldview, raises the issue that taking away Free Will makes people susceptible
to not considering the outcomes their actions have.
 It seems that Free Will is tied to a sense moral responsibility, guilt for misdeeds
and pride of accomplishment. We hold ourselves accountable for actions that
come from Free Will however if presented with the notion of not having Free Will
we loose all moral sentiment as we people seem to think their actions are not of
their own.
 Critics of the experiment have stated that cheating in a test lab is different
committing a crime outside it. This may be that people were only influenced for a
short time by the diminished belief in Free Will. This is evidence that Free Will is a
real thing (or at least a real notion in peoples minds) as not having Free Will, or
not believing in it, makes people act in a negative fashion. Whilst maintaining the
notion of Free Will people made choices of their own accord and were FREE to
act as they saw fit.

7. Video
I have found a video explaining the concepts further and
also bringing up some other points of interest.
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2011/04/why-
free-will-may-be-an-illusion.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tePeltQxKs&feature
=player_detailpage }
Alt.