Those who think hard about free will are likely to conclude that the complex moral psychology of the experience of freedom is the most fruitful area of research. New generations, however, will continue to launch themselves onto the old carousel, and the debate is likely to continue for as long as human beings can think, as the no-freedom theorists argument that we can’t possibly have strong free will keeps bumping into the fact that we can’t help believing that we do. The facts are clear, and they have been known for a long time. When it comes to the metaphysics of free will, André Gide’s remark is apt: “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” It seems that the only freedom that we can have is compatibilist freedom. If—since—that is not enough for ultimate responsibility, we can’t have ultimate responsibility.
