About Hard Compatibilism

Hard Compatibilism is the belief that determinism and free will are both true and that when properly defined are perfectly compatible. Ordinary compatibilism would be the position that determinism and free will are theoretically compatible, but is wishy-washy as to the person's actual belief.

I presume a world of perfectly reliable cause and effect, a deterministic universe. Any indeterminism would be due to problems in prediction, not in causation.

Within this deterministic universe, free will is an event in which a person is free to decide for themselves what they will do. Free will is not a property of the person, but a property of the event. If the circumstances of the event included a guy with a gun demanding that we do his will rather than our own, then we are not free of his coercion.

And there are a number of other meaningful and relevant constraints that can actually prevent a person from making the choice for themselves. These are the constraints that the free will event must be free of to qualify as free will.

But reliable cause and effect is neither a meaningful nor a relevant constraint.

Choosing, whether of one's own free will or compelled by another, is a deterministic logical operation, like addition or subtraction.

So, the choosing event fits comfortably within any causal chain where we encounter it.

Every choice comes with the ability to do otherwise, because there will be at least two viable options in the first place which will necessitate that we make a choice before we can continue. By logical necessity, a viable option must be both choosable and, if chosen, doable. And if you've got two of them, then you've also go the ability to do otherwise.