Free Will Doesn’t Exist

Even though this isn’t explicitly about religion, the free will debate is important to apologetics because the non-existence of free will is in direct conflict with most Abrahamic religious doctrines. I will give the argument for the idea that free will doesn’t exist that I think is the most convincing. Let’s call this argument the “Randomness dilemma”, it goes like this:

First, let’s define my key terms:

Determined - is the result of a prior cause(s)

Random - is not the result of any prior cause(s)

Now, the argument:

Our actions are either fully determined, fully random, or some combination of determinism and randomness.

If our actions are determined, we don’t have control over the prior causes that make us perform the actions we take, so we don’t have free will.

If our actions are random, then we have no control over our actions because random events are by definition uncontrollable. So, we wouldn’t have free will if our actions are the result of randomness.

Some people who believe in free will seem to suggest that are actions are not determined or random. But, this seems like a contradiction. How is it possible for our decisions to be neither determined by prior causes nor random (which is to say NOT determined by any prior cause)?

Premise 1: our actions are either determined, random, or some combination of determinism and randomness

Premise 2: it makes no sense to say we have free will whether our actions are determined or random.

Conclusion: therefore, free will doesn’t exist.