Here’s is why physicist George Ellis is almost certainly wrong about free will

I can’t believe I’m about to write yet another essay on free will. The thing is, the wretched topic is just not going to go away. And for obvious reasons: it is one of the classical problems that, in the words of philosopher Wilfrid Sellars, require a reconciliation of the scientific and manifest images of the world — that is, how science looks at the issue vs how the rest of us do.

The scientific image of free will seems to strongly hint that there is no such thing. We live in a universe that works according to the laws of physics, and more broadly is governed by a web of cause and effect. If by “free” we mean that human beings somehow have the ability to transcend such laws then science tells us that we have no free will. Unless you believe in miracles, that is.

In sharp contrast, the “manifest” image, that is, the world as it appears to us humans, just as strongly hints at the existence of free will. When I sat down in front of my iPad a new minutes ago to start typing this essay, I briefly considered writing about another couple of topics instead: process metaphysics or a reply to a misguided article about the usefulness ancient philosophy published recently in the Times Literary Supplement (no worries, both of those are forthcoming). But I decided to write about free will instead…