ABSTRACT
Some people believe that the laws of nature are deterministic–that the universe is like a machine that has to unfold in one very specific way. Others reject this view about the laws of nature but think that human action is subject to various other kinds of determination. Determinism is commonly defined as the thesis that there is, at any given moment, only one physically possible future. The claim that freedom requires control is imprecise, as is the claim that having control involves being the source of one’s actions. Decisions and choices seem to be types of action; so there is no obvious problem with treating them as potential bearers of freedom. The determination problem arises because human freedom seems impossible regardless of whether determinism is true, and regardless of whether people's actions are subject to various kinds of local determination.
