About this topic
Free will, determinism, compatibilism, libertarian agency, and their implications for responsibility, desert, and punishment.
Debates are grouped by their main question. Scores assess the reasoning presented, not the truth of a position. Read the assessment method.
Explore the assessments
Michael Huemer vs Robert Sapolsky: Does Free Will Exist—and Does It Matter? · 2024
Huemer challenges the leap from pervasive causal influence to determination, while Sapolsky explains mechanistic change and presses a humane rejection of retributive desert.
Michael Huemer: 83 · Robert Sapolsky: 80. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Daniel Dennett vs Gregg Caruso: Free Will and Moral Responsibility · 2021
Caruso’s carefully delimited desert skepticism and forward-looking alternatives outperform Dennett’s practical compatibilism, whose institutional strengths leave ultimate sourcehood and desert’s independent role unresolved.
Daniel Dennett: 79 · Gregg Caruso: 89. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Alex O'Connor vs Dr Alex Carter: Free Will and Determinism · 2024
O'Connor pressed ultimate-source objections and practical compassion; Carter more strongly defended graded, attributable agency while preserving interpersonal and normative dimensions.
Alex O'Connor: 79 · Alex Carter: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Sam Harris vs Daniel Dennett: Does Free Will Exist? · 2018
Harris challenges ultimate authorship under causation, while Dennett defends graded, reasons-responsive control and pragmatic responsibility without metaphysical self-creation.
Sam Harris: 82 · Daniel Dennett: 88. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Nathan Hawkins vs Joe Folley: Free Will, Compatibilism, and Idealism · 2026
Hawkins defended libertarian idealism through normativity and experiential completeness, while Folley’s modal distinctions and disciplined pragmatism applied stronger comparative pressure.
Nathan Hawkins: 77 · Joe Folley: 85. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Nathan Hawkins vs Joe Folley: Do We Really Have Free Will? · 2026
Hawkins defended alternative-capable self-formation through constrained indeterminacy; Folley more consistently grounded practical agency and responsibility in distinctions surviving determinism.
Nathan Hawkins: 83 · Joe Folley: 89. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Alex O'Connor vs Craig Biddle: Free Will - Do You Have It? · 2025
Biddle locates freedom in regulating rational attention; O'Connor argues that introspection, desire, and agent causation never escape determination or randomness.
Craig Biddle: 77 · Alex O'Connor: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.