I'm not entirely sure about that! But in any case, I think first we have to understand what free will is supposed to be.
How about the seemingly deterministic nature of the laws of nature? Everything in the universe must obey the laws of nature, so how can we have any free will at all if everything is determined?
I agree that it seems wrong to blame or judge anyone for anything when one can only be blameworthy if one has free will, and yet free will doesn't seem compatible with science!
Hm, I'm not sure I understand how self awareness matters? Are you suggesting minds are non-physical and operate somehow beyond the reach of the laws of nature? If so, you wouldn't be the first to do so! See mind-body dualism etcetera ....
Obviously, we're not mindless automatons
For example, as you pointed out, we do have self-awareness. Although, in one particular sense, we are still like automatons: Whatever we do, we could not have acted differently. Given the laws of nature, the current and previous physical states of the universe, whatever happens next is entirely determined. And while the future is (thankfully!) much too complex to predict, it is still determined in the manner I explained. (This view is called physical determinism.)
Obviously, we're not mindless automatons
(And before you interject "but quantum mechanics!": I'm telling you those people are misguided! There is a difference between apparent randomness and true randomness. In Einstein's words, God doesn't play dice with the universe! And even if Einstein is wrong and quanta do behave somewhat randomly, how does randomness help the case for free will!? Free will is stuck between a rock and a hard place, between determinism on the one hand and indeterminism on the other.)
But how can the will be free if it's determined? It may feel like we are choosing freely, but are we really? I don't think so. Yes, we're choosing, but not freely."Whatever we do, we could not have acted differently" is one of those cleverly worded statements that drives the false narrative that any and all actions we take are fixed by nature. But it's deceptive, because of course every action/decision we take is how we are going to act. But that is not what free will is... Free will is being able to choose a red shirt, or a blue shirt, or no shirt at all. Free will is being able to make poor decisions that go against your best interest, such as wearing shorts in the dead of winter. Free will is being able to act like a jerk, or act like a nice person. It's a choice. If you say it's in our nature to make choices, then you are saying it's in our nature to have free will.
Wherever you go, there you are. Try to dispute that one....
Absolutely, I think most people's intuition is that we are choosing freely, maybe because the "rules" constraining our choices are so bewilderingly complex and besides rely on physics not yet fully understood.
That's an interesting take on it. Yes, the "rules" are super complex, and therefore our actions resulting from them are unpredictable. Perhaps in a remote future, AIs will be able to predict/emulate an individual's entire set of behaviour (choices, actions, ...) with some margin of error?
I think we can make it even more tricky than that
Let's say you're trying to decide whether or not to eat a nectarine as part of your breakfast. You only have one nectarine. But then your wife wakes up and you know she really likes nectarines as well. You ought to let her have it - after all it would be the gentlemanly thing to do - and gamble that the fruit bowl will be refilled with new nectarines soon enough. But then you pause. How did we arrive at this desperate situation with two nectarine fanatics having only one nectarine left in the fruit bowl? Why is there an expectation that a man will forgo his own nectarine desires in favour of his wife's? Why is it that you feel obligated to fulfill this expectation? In the end you decide to find something else to eat, but you feel less sure you could have made a different choice, so where does that leave so-called free will?
