Eh? Why is it? I don’t see how that follows at all.
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One of the best rules of thumb for discussing philosophy is this: first state the obvious. After you’ve done that you’ll either have a workable common ground or see that your disagreement actually lies further down the chain (or up, your preference of spatial metaphor).
So I think the question here is, what do you mean by free will?
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Well, that’s an excellent question. I am not a trained philosopher, but my naive layman’s view is that there are at least two possible competing definitions:
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In general, we act in accordance with our perceived wishes and intentions. E.g., I fancy a cup of tea, so I make one; it’s warm and cosy in bed and I don’t want to get up, but I want to get fired even less, so I reluctantly get up. There are still some grey areas – e.g., if I’m on a diet but succumb to temptation and eat a cream cake, is that free will in action or its frustration by my biological impulses? – and in certain reflex-driven situations it doesn’t apply at all (you will snatch your hand away from the stove before you even realise your hand is burning), but on the whole I don’t have a problem with it.
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Our actions are ultimately determined by something other than the materialistic laws of physics. This is wandering, if not charging, into dualism, and I find it much more problematic.
Most arguments on the matter appear to assume definition #2.
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