In philosophy, the doctrine that all events, including human decisions, are completely determined by previously existing causes.
The traditional free will problem arises from thequestion, Is moral responsibility consistent withthe truth of determinism? Among those who believe it is not consistent, some, maintaining the truth of determinism, have concluded thatno one is morally responsible for what he does (and therefore that punishment for criminal actions is unjustified); others, maintaining the reality of moral responsibility, have concluded that determinism is false. Those who believe that moral responsibility is consistent with determinism are known as compatibilists (see compatibilism) . Pierre-Simon Laplace is responsible for the classical formulation of determinism in the 18th century. For Laplace, the present state of the universe is the effect ofits previous state and the cause of the state that follows it. If a mind, at any given moment, could know all the laws and all the forces operating in nature and the respective positions and momenta of all its components, it could thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity.
free will problem:
compatibilism:Problem arising from the apparent inconsistency between causal determinism innature and the human power or capacity to choose among alternatives or act freely in certain situations, thus independently of natural, social, or divine compulsions.
Its significance derives from the fact that free will is generally considered a necessary presupposition of moral responsibility, while determinism has (at least until the advent of quantum mechanics) been regarded a necessary presupposition of natural science. Arguments for free will are based on the subjective experience of freedom, on sentiments of guilt, on revealed religion, and onthe supposition of responsibility for personal actions that underlies the concepts of law, reward, punishment, and incentive. In theology, the existence of free will must be reconciled with God's foreknowledge, with divine omniscience and goodness (in allowing humansto choose badly), and with divine grace, which allegedly is necessary for any meritorious act.
tingiu gilintis tad ne nekomentuosiu.. jei koks klausimas is mano pateikimo bus tai paieskosiu ir i ji atsakymo..Thesis that free will, in the sense required for moral responsibility, is consistent with universal causal determinism.
It is important to distinguish the question of thelogical consistency of belief in universal causaldeterminism with belief in free will from the question whether the thesis of free will (or that of causal determinism) is true. Compatibilistsneed not assert (though many have) the reality both of free will and of causal determinism. Among incompatibilists, some maintain the existence of free will and accordingly deny universal causal determinism, while others uphold universal causal determinism and deny the existence of free will