free will en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English fre will, fre wil, fre wille.
Meanings
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(uncountable) Voluntary choice; (the power of) unforced, uncoerced choice.
They bound my limbs, depriving me of my free will.
I am impelled to this course by no one, but follow it of my own free-will.
1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby:I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezra 7:13:Good my Lord, / To come thus was I not constrain'd, but did it / On my free-will.
c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:He did not say it of his own free will, but because his captors coerced him.
We were faced with a great many problems at Potsdam. The most troublesome one was the refugee problem. They were coming- German refugees were coming from Czechoslovakia and then from Poland into Germany. And Stalin said they weren't coming. We explained to him that they were coming, and they were coming from the countries which he occupied. And then he said they were coming of their own free will and accord. Well, if they came of their own free will- he was just lying about it because they were not coming of their own free will. The same kind of free will affected my grandmother when the Federals ran off with her farm and the goods and things on it, and forced her to move off the farm. These people were forced to move and the Russians were doing it.
1965, Harry S. Truman, 2:02 from the start, in MP2002-442 Former President Truman Discusses Problems Faced During the Potsdam Conference, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:I say therefore, there is no likelyhood, we should imagine, the beasts doe the very same things by a naturall inclination and forced genuitie, which we doe of our owne freewil and industrie.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:(insane/worst/best/amazing) use of free will
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(uncountable) The ability to choose one's actions and make choices that are not predetermined by predestination, fate, etc.
Some people deny that humans have free will, and argue that every thought and action is preordained by God.
The new challenge to free will comes from a different direction: neuroscience's discovery that people's brains are a collection of diversely oriented modules, and that our understanding of our own intentionality is to a great degree a legitimating fiction which one module in the left hemisphere of the brain retroactively imposes over the decisions different modules make.
2012 January 12, “Free will and politics”, in The Economist:You can bind my limbs, but you can never deprive me of my free will.
What is free will but the power of volition and action, and of thought and speech, to all appearance as of one's self?
1869, Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by R Norman Foster, The True Christian Religion:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| freewill | alternative | lexicographic | |
| freewil | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
free-willer · free-willist · Free Will Baptist
Relateds
determinism · self-determination · existentialism
Synonyms
Translations (51)
ota اختیار (ability to choose one's actions) · la liberum arbitrium (ability to choose one's actions) · fa اختیار (ability to choose one's actions) · pt própria vontade (natural inclination) · sk slobodná vôľa (ability to choose one's actions) · la spōns (ability to choose one's actions) · pl wolna wola (ability to choose one's actions) · th เจตจำนงเสรี (ability to choose one's actions) · fa آزادکامی (ability to choose one's actions) · tr özgür irade (ability to choose one's actions) · ca franc arbitri (ability to choose one's actions) · cmn 自願 /自愿 (natural inclination) · fi vapaa tahto (ability to choose one's actions) · es albedrío (ability to choose one's actions) · pl wolna wola (natural inclination) · de freier Wille (ability to choose one's actions) · cy ewyllys rydd (ability to choose one's actions) · el ελεύθερη βούληση (ability to choose one's actions) · ja 自由意志 (ability to choose one's actions) · bg свободна воля (ability to choose one's actions) · mr स्वेच्छा (natural inclination) · uk свобо́да во́лі (ability to choose one's actions) · es albedrío (natural inclination) · sv egen vilja (natural inclination) · cmn 自由意志 (ability to choose one's actions) · ru свобо́дная во́ля (ability to choose one's actions) · fr libre arbitre (ability to choose one's actions) · es libre albedrío (natural inclination) · pt livre-arbítrio (ability to choose one's actions) · ga saorthoil (ability to choose one's actions) · gl libre arbitrio (ability to choose one's actions) · ro liber arbitru (ability to choose one's actions) · nl vrije wil (ability to choose one's actions) · vi ý chí tự do (ability to choose one's actions) · ba ихтыяр ирке (ability to choose one's actions) · ca lliure albir (ability to choose one's actions) · es libre albedrío (ability to choose one's actions) · ko 자유의지 (ability to choose one's actions) · ba ихтыяр (ability to choose one's actions) · da fri vilje (natural inclination) · it libero arbitrio (ability to choose one's actions) · mk слободна волја (ability to choose one's actions) · la voluntas (natural inclination) · sv fri vilja (ability to choose one's actions) · gd saor-thoil (ability to choose one's actions) · tl malayang loob (ability to choose one's actions) · hy ազատ կամք (ability to choose one's actions) · cs svobodná vůle (ability to choose one's actions) · fi vapaa tahto (natural inclination) · gv aigney seyr (ability to choose one's actions) · ar حُرِّيَّة الْإِرَادَة (ability to choose one's actions)