Free will for atheists?

Question

Theists have an easy way of answering the problem of free will by saying they just "have it" because a god gave it to them. And they don't have to explain it scientifically because with "faith" you dont have to really think about anything.
How is free will explained scientifically from an atheist who also believes in free will?
From what i've gathered everything is part of a determistic system. Even human thought. However an illusion of free will is experienced due to the generation of infinite behaviour from the interaction of finite-deterministic set of rules and parameters. Thus the unpredictability of the emerging behaviour from deterministic processes leads to a perception of free will, even though free will as an ontological entity does not exist.
"At any moment I can do what I want, but I cannot want what I want most"
-Schopenhauer

How do you view free will given the above?

Note that this absence of free will is not a form of defeatism by any means.
We can still decide things and change our environment and circumstance, but whether we do or not is inevitable. It is unknowable due to our limited capacity for thought and our basic understanding of the conditions leading up until now.

I understand quantum mechanics is seemingly random but how does that fit in with the human will?

I've asked this a while back but didn't get many thorough responses.

The only reason I ask this question is because i've often heard the phrase "free will" used by fellow atheists and since it is originally a judeo-christian concept I'm wondering if they really believe it or if it is more of a figure of speech.

Then how are decisions made?
How are they independent of the will?
Sure anyone can do what they want if they want. But ultimately they are not free of their wanting to or not. The final decision is the result of a rationalization. And therefore was conditioned to be what it was.

Answer 1

The term free-will only has meaning within the religious context. There is no such thing as free-will in nature. There is only stimulus and response. You have no control over your body's natural response to stimulus. People have been trying to gain control for eons. If you have control, tell your cells to stop multiplying or tell you eye to stop seeing or don't jerk when startled unexpectedly.

The illusion is that we as living organism have some form of control over life and that simply is not true.

Answer 2

While I understand the point you are trying to make, that free will is really an illusion, i still believe we can break the chain of causility (supposedly) determined a millesecond after the big bang.

The inherent unpredictability of microcosmic events extends gossamer threads into the macrocosmic world and allows for an indeterminate future. Therefore, human beings have Free Will and it is not an illusion.

Human beings, as well as animals and inanimate events have the ability to break the chains of strict causality postulated by Determinism. We are thus free to influence our affairs and our destiny. In changing our future from what it would have been without the interaction triggered by our free will, we are changing the very universe of which we are an integral part.

With the intervention of free will, our future, and thus the future of the universe, will follow a path different from the path it would have pursued without our intervention.

In addition to scientific considerations, common sense insists that Free Will exists. Who would deny that we have Free Will when we put one foot in front of the other and decide, of our own volition, of our own Free Will, to go for a walk or not go for a walk?

It is clearly irrational to believe that a chain of causality at the time of the Big Bang determines if we go for a walk this afternoon, or not.

Answer 3

If one does not believe in a supernatural diety, than he or she should be more prone to the belief of free will. In fact, an atheist should be more prone to the belief of free will without the result of consequences unlike many religious people. To be atheist does not mean that one has to believe in determinism. One may just believe in evolution or some other scientific theory of human development and still believe in free will. To atheists however, free will is not given as a privilege from a supernatural power, you just have automatically upon birth. Nothing is "given" or "obtained" to them, humans just like animals can do what they want if they want.

Answer 4

The answer depends on how one defines "self". If the idea of individual human personality is used, there is no free will, not for criminal or prosecution. If we realize our definition of "self", to be complete, must in many ways includes the whole of that deterministic system, then there is nothing outside of self, and thus nothing to decide for us.

Answer 5

Sure, free will for all. Soul exists because God loves It, even the athiests. One can't explain with the mind what can only be known to Soul, not by faith alone but known through experience via the Spiritual Exercises of ECKANKAR.

Answer 6

People of faith do not have to explain it scientifically. You said so. Neither do we atheists. We just know we have it, same as you. You attribute it to a god, we attribute it to life.