My frustration with the Free Will debate is that determinism is restricted to the definition of predetermination and ontologically rests on a concept of fate. From a Scientific perspective, determinism really only means a cause and effect relationship within an empirical model of predictability. This is the reality of the Universe, and anyone that disagrees or argues with this position should also take exception to the entire Scientific body of knowledge and the Praxis it practices. Starting from the Scientific definition of determinism, which includes entropy, which increases randomness over time, then moving into probability and the epistemology of our contemporary understanding of determinism, we have a framework to articulate some productive thought. At this point in history and consciousness, individual perceptions of reality require a translator, a grand narrative, a functional fiction. Free Will is this illusion and allusion. The sense of self, the number one, and the very concept of the Latin phrase sui generis is a fiction. We exist on a stage of life, and this show must go on! Descartes’ immaterial soul or Kant's noumenal self were nice attempts in their time but they should have known better. The concept of astragali (probability and chance) where known prior to even the pre-Socratics. I must retrace my steps. Descartes and Kant were instrumental in moving thought forward and should be remembered as the Giants they were. No ad hominem attacks here.
If the understanding of indeterminism includes randomness and chance, this move throws the baby out with the bath water. Imagine defining a beetle in a box as a needle in a haystack. I can perceptively see the beetle immediately when I look in the box. No searching involved. Indeterminism puts you on a path of meaning incompatible with the definition of empirical perception. It's better to modify the meaning of determinism to include chance and probability. Mathematical models deterministically predict the positions and paths of causal chains. The alternative is a plank in the eye and the needless searching of the Libertarians.
“At the end of the day, I "will" be "freely determined" to pursue friendships of common intellectual integrity and assist by any means of regression compatible under the curve.” - Cory Elliot, (fictional phenomenon)
