Do We Have Free Will?

Decide whether you think we have free will. Then, create an argument for your conclusion, addressing the following in your essay:
In order to answer the question above, you will need to describe what free will is. Different philosophers have slightly different accounts of what free will is, so the definition you give of free will may be different from the definition another person would give, and this will depend on which account of free will you agree with.
You might use the term “free will”, or “being a free agent” or “the ability to make choices freely” or “being a self-directed creature”. How you elaborate on the notion of free will is going to depend on (1) whether you’re arguing that free will exists or does not exist, and (2) the reasons (premises) you give for its existence or non-existence.  
You will also need to give good reasons for believing that we have free will, as discussed in the lecture on Libertarianism. And you will need to give good reasons for believing we do not have free will, as discussed in the lecture on Hard Determinism. (This shows you understand the debate you’re writing about).   
Once you have this foundation, you will argue either for the conclusion that we do have free will, or for the conclusion that we don’t have free will. You will defend your view using premises that support your conclusion (i.e., you will support your claim with good reasons for believing that your claim is true).
On this topic we have three opposing views- whichever view you defend, you will need to respond to both of the other views and argue that we should not accept those two views.

If you defend the view that we do not have free will (Hard Determinism), you will need to address both the Libertarian view and the Compatibilist view and argue for the conclusion that we should not accept either of these.
If you defend the view that we have the kind of free will Libertarians believe we have, you will need to address both Hard Determinism and Compatibilism and argue for the conclusion that we should not accept either of these views.
If you defend the view that we have the kind of free will Compatibilists believe that we have, you will need to address both Hard Determinism and Libertarianism and argue for the conclusion that we should not accept either of these views.

If you choose this essay topic, you will need to discuss material from Modules 4 and 5, the lectures, and the readings by D’Holbach, Taylor, and Dennett. In order to earn a high grade, you will need to make it clear in your essay that you have done the readings assigned in those modules.