Free will

==Eastern philosophy==

===Buddhist philosophy===
[[Buddhism]] accepts both freedom and determinism (or something similar to it), but in spite of its focus towards the human [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], rejects the western concept of a total agent from external sources.<ref name="Gier">Gier, Nicholas and Kjellberg, Paul. "[http://www.tomandrodna.com/Nick_Gier/Buddfreewill.pdf Buddhism and the Freedom of the Will: Pali and Mahayanist Responses]" in Freedom and Determinism. Campbell, Joseph Keim; O'Rourke, Michael; and Shier, David. 2004. MIT Press</ref> According to [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha]], "There is free action, there is retribution, but I see no agent that passes out from one set of momentary elements into another one, except the [connection] of those elements."<ref name="Gier"/> Buddhists believe in neither absolute free will, nor determinism. It preaches a middle doctrine, named ''[[pratītyasamutpāda]]'' in [[Sanskrit]], often translated as "dependent origination", "dependent arising" or "conditioned genesis". It teaches that every volition is a conditioned action as a result of ignorance. In part, it states that free will is inherently conditioned and not "free" to begin with. It is also part of the theory of [[karma in Buddhism]]. The concept of karma in Buddhism is different from the notion of [[karma]] in Hinduism. In Buddhism, the idea of karma is much less deterministic. The Buddhist notion of karma is primarily focused on the cause and effect of moral actions in this life, while in Hinduism the concept of karma is more often connected with determining one's [[destiny]] in [[reincarnation|future lives]].

In Buddhism it is taught that the idea of absolute freedom of choice (that is that any human being could be completely free to make any choice) is unwise, because it denies the reality of one's physical needs and circumstances. Equally incorrect is the idea that humans have no choice in life or that their lives are pre-determined. To deny freedom would be to deny the efforts of Buddhists to make moral progress (through our capacity to freely choose compassionate action). ''Pubbekatahetuvada'', the belief that all happiness and suffering arise from previous actions, is considered a wrong view according to Buddhist doctrines. Because Buddhists also reject agenthood, the traditional compatibilist strategies are closed to them as well. Instead, the Buddhist philosophical strategy is to examine the metaphysics of causality. Ancient India had many heated arguments about the nature of causality with [[Jain]]s, [[Nyaya|Nyayists]], [[Samkhya|Samkhyists]], [[Cārvāka]]ns, and Buddhists all taking slightly different lines. In many ways, the Buddhist position is closer to a theory of "conditionality" (''[[idappaccayatā]]'') than a theory of "causality", especially as it is expounded by [[Nagarjuna]] in the ''[[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]]''.<ref name="Gier"/>

===Hindu philosophy===
{{see also|Free will in theology#Hinduism}}
The six orthodox ([[astik]]a) schools of thought in [[Hindu philosophy]] do not agree with each other entirely on the question of free will. For the [[Samkhya]], for instance, matter is without any freedom, and soul lacks any ability to control the unfolding of matter. The only real freedom (''kaivalya'') consists in realizing the ultimate separateness of matter and self.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fapXqp-JSL0C&q=kaivalya|title=The ascetic self: subjectivity, memory and tradition |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-60401-7|page=73|last=Flood|first=Gavin|year=2004}}</ref> For the [[Yoga]] school, only [[Ishvara]] is truly free, and its freedom is also distinct from all feelings, thoughts, actions, or wills, and is thus not at all a freedom of will. The metaphysics of the [[Nyaya]] and [[Vaisheshika]] schools strongly suggest a belief in determinism, but do not seem to make explicit claims about determinism or free will.<ref name="koller">{{Cite book |first1=J. |title=Asian Philosophies |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-13-092385-1 |edition=5th |last1=Koller}}</ref>

A quotation from [[Swami Vivekananda]], a [[Vedanta|Vedantist]], offers a good example of the worry about free will in the Hindu tradition.
{{blockquote|text=Therefore we see at once that there cannot be any such thing as free-will; the very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we know is within our universe, and everything within our universe is moulded by conditions of time, space and causality. ... To acquire freedom we have to get beyond the limitations of this universe; it cannot be found here.<ref name = "viveka"/>}}
However, the preceding quote has often been misinterpreted as Vivekananda implying that everything is predetermined. What Vivekananda actually meant by lack of free will was that the will was not "free" because it was heavily influenced by the law of cause and effect&nbsp;– "The will is not free, it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect, but there is something behind the will which is free."<ref name = "viveka">[[Swami Vivekananda]] (1907) {{cite web |url=http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_5/sayings_and_utterances.htm |title=Sayings and utterances |publisher=ramakrishnavivekananda.info}}</ref> Vivekananda never said things were absolutely determined and placed emphasis on the power of conscious choice to alter one's past [[Karma in Hinduism|karma]]: "It is the coward and the fool who says this is his [[Destiny|fate]]. But it is the strong man who stands up and says I will make my own fate."<ref name = "viveka"/>