It feels like we have free will

The argument

Whatever the metaphysics turns out to be, the experience is not in doubt. We are "built" to have the impression that we consciously control our actions or to have the power to freely choose, even if it is just a cognitive illusion. The starting point of this argument is that the impression is universal, involuntary and constant, and that a fact of that kind is not something that can simply be set aside. The scientific testimony offered is careful in the same way. Mark Hallett, a researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said, "Free will does exist, but it's a perception, not a power or a driving force. People experience free will. They have the sense they are free." The formulation does not claim to have located a faculty in the brain standing outside the causal order. It says that free will exists as something people perceive, and that the perception is a real and stable feature of human minds rather than an error waiting to be corrected. What follows is practical. The assumption of free will runs through every aspect of American politics, from welfare provision to criminal law — both of which presuppose that people could have acted otherwise and may be held to account accordingly. It permeates the popular culture, and it underpins the American dream: the belief that anyone can make something of themselves no matter what their start in life. A perception that is universal, that organises how a society distributes blame and reward, and that its institutions are built around is not a trivial one. On this view, people have free will in the sense that is actually doing the work — the sense they live by and govern themselves by.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Just because we believe we have free will doesn't mean it is the truth. “The more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don’t have it.”

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] This is not necessarily the case.