In the videos below, six academics give their views on the tricky concept of free will. It seems hard to reconcile the materialist view of reality with the idea of free will, since anything that happens in the brain to bring about a choice had a cause, and that cause had its own cause, all the way back to the beginning of time. Some of these scholars seem, to me, to redefine the concept of free will in order to hold on to it. But see what you think:

Steven Pinker – Skirts the question a bit:

Michio Kaku – Rejects determinism, but seems to suggest that uncertainty or randomness is a form of free will:

Sam Harris – Says it’s an illusion:

Dan Dennett – It exists:

Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss – It’s an illusion, though it doesn’t make much difference: