Yuyutsu, you say "A precondition for free will is to have a subjective sense of will."

So in your opinion, according to this statement, at what point of their development does a human gain free will:
eg: 1) does an unfertilised egg or a sperm have free will?
2) or maybe free will is gained at conception?
3) perhaps an embryo?
4) if not these stages how about a foetus?
5) or infant (or a substage- such as babbling a single word) ?
6) or child?
7) or adolescent?
8) or adult?
9) or some other time?

I.e. Can you pin point a specific stage of human development when someone gains a "subjective sense of will" as opposed to just "physics in action"?

Also, what about the times when someone is not fully conscious; such as when sleeping or in a coma or dazed out on drugs. At these times do they have free will? Does free will come and go to be replaced with physics in action?

Lastly, what about people who have experienced brain damage or were born with severe intellectual disability. Do they have free will?

Dear Thinkabit,

«at what point of their development does a human gain free will»

Never.

A human is just a body, so are mice and frogs and plants and earthworms.

YOU have free will, or at least a subjective sense of will, but your human does not.

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Dear Yuyutsu,

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You wrote :

« A precondition for free will is to have a subjective sense of will. Otherwise, it is just physics in action »
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It’s not quite that simple I’m afraid Yuyutsu.

The OED defines “will” as :

« The faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action »

But I think that, by assimilation, that definition could probably be extended to apply not just to human beings but probably to all animals and perhaps, even, some plants as well.

Decision-making is a relatively new field of study that is still very much in its infancy, dating roughly from the year 2000. It bridges neurobiology and cognitive science. Prior to that, scientists had studied the activity of neurons in those parts of the brain that play a role in working memory.

They apply the neurocircuit computer models they had developed form these earlier studies on memory to explain behavioural and neurophysiological observations relating to decision-making.

Here is an indication of research currently being undertaken by three experts in this field :

http://www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/neuroscience-of-decision-making
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It probably won’t happen during our lifetime, Yuyutsu, but I expect that these scientific efforts will eventually achieve their objective of establishing a clear understanding of the decision-making process that underpins the faculty of free will that we human beings share with other members of the Animal Kingdom along with, perhaps, some of the more sophisticated species of plant life, as I explained in my previous post.

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Dear Banjo,

« The faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action »

A person is a physical object, so are animals, so are computers, so you can even speak about air and water "deciding" to flow in this or that direction, in fact every sub-atomic particle or wave constantly "decides" what to do - they might not have a FREE will, but they still have a WILL.

If that's all there is to "will", if we are only discussing physical mechanisms, then obviously there is no free will. Also, if that's the case, then all that is left is a technical study of those mechanisms and frankly, I wouldn't find this interesting.

However, the OED definition is quite different from the broader intuitive sense of WILL, including as presented by this article's author. According to the broader sense, I may, for example, have the will to fly, yet my body doesn't comply so it "decides" to stay on the ground and obey the law of gravity.

While there can be faculties of OED-style will, There cannot be a "faculty of free will". Free will means that it is YOURS alone and independent of external factors. You may claim that free-will doesn't exist - OK, many do, including the author, it's called "determinism".

Yuyutsu,

<<Exactly, God can be known but not understood!>>

It is not exactly, in my understanding. Why?

Job 36:26 asks: 'How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out'.

However, that doesn't mean we can't pursue an understanding of God as He has revealed many of his attributes to us. See: http://www.allaboutgod.com/understanding-god.htm

Yuyutsu,

<<A person is a physical object, so are animals, so are computers, so you can even speak about air and water "deciding" to flow in this or that direction.>>

Are you affirming that a person is only a physical object? Are we body/physical and there's no more to us?