Abstract

In his book Willensfreiheit , Geert Keil argues against the compatibility of free will and determinism by starting from the claim that the possibility to do otherwise than one actually does is an „analytic component“ of the concept of action. This he takes to imply that at no point in time prior to the action it is determined whether the action will take place. I argue against the move from to by pointing out that the kind of possibility mentioned in should best be understood as a „practical possibility“ that requires no more than the agent's ability, and opportunity, to do the kind of action in question. I argue that it is extremely implausible to deny that agents can have the relevant abilities and opportunities in a deterministic universe and that Keil's arguments for such a denial already presuppose the incompatibilism they are meant to establish