What is free-will?

[AgnosticBoy]

In this thread, I want to discuss what free-will is, what it involves, how it would work, etc. I think when many think of free-will, they probably have some over-simplified idea of how it works. Others may have a more nuanced idea, but then don't really have a coherent definition for it, which leads them defending all types of things that may or may not be necessary to defend against. For instance, does free-will have to involve the complete absence of causal factors? I know materialist can also trap themselves when they don't have a good idea of what they mean by materialism or determinism, and they end up defending something that is untenable, like equating a tree branch to humans in causal terms (i.e. intentionality is an obvious difference!).

So let's give it your best shot. What is the best definition of free-will that you've come across? What does it have to involve? We can at least agree that it have to involve a choice, right?

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Here's one definition:
the ability to act and make choices independent of any outside influence:
Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/free-will

One question is that it doesn't answer what is the human will, and therefore we can't say what's "outside" of that. Is the human will made up of our thoughts and desires? If so, then even those can be said to be determined by environment, genetics, biology (i.e. neurochemical activity), etc. One possible solution to this I've seen is to say that these factors only influence (as opposed to control) or contribute to our choice, but we decide if we're going to pull the trigger or not. But two questions come to mind here, one I brought up earlier about if there's any room for "we", if it just amounts to thoughts and desires, and the other question is if free-will has to involve complete control over actions or not being influenced whatsoever? Or can it just involve some process or aspect of our decision-making that isn't influenced? Or perhaps another way to ask this is if free-will an all-or-nothing (without any control involved) or can it exist in degrees (partial control can be in place while still leaving room for free choice)?

The two sides here don't control or make the choice but they do have an influence.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

An alternative to my last post that I can think about would be 'self-causation'. Anyone for that?