The argument that brain and behavior are wholly deterministic, and therefore incompatible with free will, is a reductive interpretation that overlooks the relational, emergent, and interdisciplinary nature of agency. A cross-disciplinary approach that integrates insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and quantum physics, could describe a compatibilist model of free will —one that does not rely on absolute control but on integrated relational awareness and information processing.

At its core, the issue centers on whether human beings possess the capacity to make autonomous choices or whether all thoughts, behaviors, and decisions are the inevitable results of prior causes—neural, environmental, or cosmological. A popular reductionist interpretation of neuroscience argues that since brain activity precedes conscious awareness and behavior follows neural computations, free will is an illusion. According to this view, the brain is a deterministic machine, and therefore, the notion of agency is incompatible with how the brain actually functions. Such a view oversimplifies both the structure and function of the brain and neglects the broader interdisciplinary context in which the concept of free will resides. To dismiss free will on the grounds of neural determinism is to reduce the human experience to a series of mechanistic outputs, ignoring the dynamic, emergent, and relational nature of consciousness and decision-making.

To move beyond oversimplification, first I’d like to outline and clarify the core concepts for the following terms:

Free Will refers to the capacity of individuals to make choices that are not wholly determined by prior causes. It is not defined as absolute freedom or total control (in my opinion), but rather as the ability to act in accordance with reasons, values, and deliberative processes that arise within a complex, self-organizing system—the human mind.

Determinism, in its strictest sense, holds that every event or state of affairs is the necessary result of preceding events in accordance with causal laws. In neuroscience, this translates to the idea that neural activity completely dictates behavior, leaving no room for volition.

Compatibilism posits that free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive. That is, individuals can be free in a meaningful sense even if their actions have causes, so long as those causes a...

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