The phrase “free will” has gotten so equivocated that it’s useless. Terms like libertarian free will, compatiblism, and incompatiblism have gotten so obfuscated that discussions are meaningless. It’s amazing how this issue keeps coming up, ad infinitum. It must have profound existential importance for many people.

Instead, talk about choices or no choices. Most people like to think they make choices throughout their lives. This is even true for compatibilists who say that free will is compatible with determinism. However, a choice requires that there be live options, possible different outcomes in a given situation. With determinism, the causal chain is deterministic, so there are no live options and therefore no choices.

So, the discussion should be about whether or not people can make choices. From my experience, even compatibilists think they make choices. But from their worldview, they don’t.