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There are varieties of compatibilism (the view that determinism and free will are compatible) that do not require the existence of souls. I'd suggest taking a look at Daniel Dennett's _Elbow Room_ for one example.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an article on the subject: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/

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Compatibilists redefine free will, similarly to those who redefine "god" as "nature" or "the universe". Sure, anyone can define any term the way they want, but it simply causes confusion to the majority of people who don't hold such definition. Rather, it's best to abandon some terms as fiction, and create new ones surrounding the concept you are looking to address. Better books on the topic are Sam's _Free Will_ or Trick's _Breaking the Free Will Illusion_.

http://www.samharris.org/free-will

http://breakingthefreewillillusion.com/

i never had the patience to follow that mind juggling, or "word jugglery" as Kant calls it. For me as a programmer free will would mean something like: var a:Int = 2 var b:Int = 3 println("\(a+b)") >> 42 where transistors take the place of neurons

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