definition

Free will is controllable degrees of freedom

Free will is best understood through the engineering notion of degrees of freedom and control theory: humans have uncountably many degrees of freedom and, crucially, the competence to control that complexity and be moved by reasons on any topic; free will is the capacity to respond to circumstances with all the degrees of freedom needed to do the right thing, and this has nothing to do with determinism or indeterminism.

definitionpending

Speaker

Dan Dennett

Evidence Quote

what you want if you've got free will is the capacity and it'll never be perfect to respond to the circumstances with all the degrees of freedom you need to do what you think would be really the right thing to do

Source

39 - Free Will RevisitedMaking Sense with Sam Harris
Created: 6/14/2026, 2:25:04 AM

My Notes

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