Does free will exist?

[EvieTheAvocado]

We desire all sorts of contradictory and mutually exclusive things, in large part because we only have so much time and energy.  (For instance, if I marry Janice I can't marry Cindy too.)  Since we can't have everything we want, free will is about choosing between them so we get something we want.

I think the question is best articulated like this: If it turns out that you choose Cindy, can we say that you could have chosen otherwise?

The determinists/incompatibilists say "no." Their reasoning is that everything in the universe operates according to the laws of cause and effect. If there is an exception to this rule, we haven't discovered it yet.

With this in mind, the determinist asks, by what mechanism is one allowed to choose Cindy over Janice (or vice versa)? There seems to be no allowance in the laws of nature for such "free choosing" to transpire.

Determinists think the brain works by a summation of causes, so that one cause comes out on top by being stronger than the others.  They consider this an automatic process which consciousness is not involved with.

But that's not how the brain works at all.  The brain works by self-motivated selection between possible causes.  Consciousness focuses on some things in preference to others.  We don't experience what we don't pay attention to, so such things don't influence our decisions.

But our consciousness is not separate from causality, regardless of if we believe or even perceive otherwise. Of course it's how the brain works... as the brain is part of the universe... and so if everything else in the universe works by causality... then so does the brain... otherwise you are just special-pleading in order to pretend that free will is a coherent concept when it simply isn't.

That's how free will works in contrast to simple cause and effect with awareness playing no role.

Awareness is no more separate from simple cause and effect than anything else in the universe. Again, are you saying our minds are magic?