A Question For Compatibilists

If a decision is made unconsciously before the decision is conscious is it free will?

All decisions are made unconsciously before the decision is conscious. And no, this is not a problem for any compatibilist I've ever heard of. Or at least, in my opinion it shouldn't be.

From a totally different point of view, in 2008-2009 John Conway and Simon Kochen proved their so-called Free Will Theorem, which says [1]:

- if we have a free will in the sense that our choices are not a function of the past, then, subject to certain assumptions, so must some elementary particles.

In other words, if we make the assumptions alluded to above, which aren't really as onerous as you might imagine, then:

- If no elementary particle has 'free will' in the sense mentioned, then no person has free will either.

Given this, questions about free will might well be moot: it looks like our lives are lived as deterministically as a clock.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_theorem

____
"If you ain't a marine then you ain't *beep*

I wouldn't quibble about the millisecond(s) delay between subconscious decision-making and awareness of making said decision.

Given a menu at a never-visited restaurant, one can hardly claim Determinism preempted free will in deciding the entree.








___________

Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum Goldilocks

Why does the time matter?

Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations

Decisions are made only consciously.

" If a decision is made unconsciously before the decision is conscious is it free will? "

We are all given limited choices to choose from. Each choice we make have limited outcomes.

The short answer would be yes.



😎