Free will

==History of free will==
The problem of free will has been identified in [[ancient Greek philosophy|ancient Greek philosophical]] literature. The notion of compatibilist free will has been attributed to both [[Aristotle]] (4th century BCE) and [[Epictetus]] (1st century CE): "it was the fact that nothing hindered us from doing or choosing something that made us have control over them".<ref name=bobzien1998determinism>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| last = Bobzien| first = Susanne| title = Determinism and freedom in Stoic philosophy| access-date = 2015-12-09| date = 1998| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7kmTeOjHIqkC&pg=PR12|quote="...Aristotle and Epictetus: In the latter authors it was the fact that nothing hindered us from doing or choosing something that made us have control over them. In Alexander's account, the terms are understood differently: what makes us have control over things is the fact that we are causally undetermined in our decision and thus can freely decide between doing/choosing or not doing/choosing them."| isbn = 978-0-19-823794-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| last = Bobzien| first = Susanne| title = Did Epicurus discover the free-will problem?| access-date = 2015-12-09| date = 2000| url = http://philpapers.org/rec/BOBDED|journal=Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy| pages = 287–338| doi = 10.1093/oso/9780199242269.003.0008| isbn = 978-0-19-924226-9}}</ref> According to [[Susanne Bobzien]], the notion of incompatibilist free will is perhaps first identified in the works of [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]] (3rd century CE): "what makes us have control over things is the fact that we are causally undetermined in our decision and thus can freely decide between doing/choosing or not doing/choosing them".

The term "free will" (''liberum arbitrium'') was introduced by Christian philosophy (4th century CE). It has traditionally meant (until [[the Enlightenment]] proposed its own meanings) lack of necessity in human will,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schopenhauer |first=A. |title=On the Freedom of the Will |chapter=What is freedom?}}</ref> so that "the will is free" meant "the will does not have to be such as it is". This requirement was universally embraced by both incompatibilists and compatibilists.<ref>Hence the notion of contingency appeared as the very opposition of necessity, so that wherever a thing is considered dependent or relies upon another thing, it is contingent and thus not necessary.</ref>