Home›Open Questions›Are human choices ever free in a sense incompatible with universal causal determination?Open QuestionsAre human choices ever free in a sense incompatible with universal causal determination?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextPhilosophy Atlas. "Are human choices ever free in a sense incompatible with universal causal determination?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/free-will-versus-determinism.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextPhilosophy Atlas. (n.d.). Are human choices ever free in a sense incompatible with universal causal determination?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/free-will-versus-determinismCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{philosophyatlas-are-human-choices-ever-free-in-a-sense-i, author = {Philosophy Atlas}, title = {Are human choices ever free in a sense incompatible with universal causal determination?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://philosophy.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/free-will-versus-determinism}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionLibertarians, hard determinists and compatibilists disagree not only on the answer but on what freedom would have to mean for the question to be answerable at all, so the dispute has not converged even as physics and neuroscience have advanced.What would resolve this A settled account of whether the laws of physics are genuinely deterministic at the level that matters for choice, combined with an agreed definition of the freedom moral responsibility requires, would resolve it; neither is settled.OpenMetaphysics, philosophy of action, physicsStanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnMetaphysics, Branches of Philosophy Well-attested Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophytier 1SourcesStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophytier 1Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informations.v. Free WillView the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year