what is free will?

I think it is a nonsense word since all will is free, but if You reference Schopenhaur you might see he make an argument against the individuation of the will... And I could agree with this more or less, because will is a quality of life, and all life really... We live so long as we have the will to make it happen... I think the free will question goes back to ideas of fate verses faith, and St. Augustine... But it is a long time since I have read him... The question presumes a creator.... You should try to understand that primitive notions of fate which were once universal were also the only excuse people had for showing mercy, and mercy was then a cause for peace... When one person Killed another, and his family demanded blood money, the killer could alway argue that the death would not have been possible without kismet, and for their part they could still argue a right to compensation because they had been dishonored.... What was the point of one death following another endlessly??? The notion of free will serves our legal system and our legal system has been the destruction of communites because the law treats all as individuals and leaves communities no power over their own... Who has free will and the notion of individual free will served??? Only those willing to unite under some form, like a corporation or law...

The very "freedom " of the will is to belong with the "context"... a bit like music notes...even the dissonant ones make up for the sound sequence pattern...(Ostinato)

...There is only so much "will" in the vibration of a note in relation to the pattern...
(and that very "pattern" demands for such specific "will"...)

Wasn't that a movie?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106965/

..think it involves being intelligent enough to look up the subject before asking.

Now why didn't I think of that? In fact, I have done, and am still doing, some reading on the topic, but it seems to me that different writers mean subtly different things when they refer to free will, and in some contexts the idea that we do or do not have free will seems to be contradicted by other things written by the same author, so I am just trying to gain some insight into what the term might mean in different contexts. Since I started studying philosophy I have noticed a definite tendency among philosophers to use the same words to mean a number of things in different contexts, as well as variations in meaning from one writer to another. But thank you for your most succinct response.

Lol. I really am a KnowNothingBozo. I have just figured out how to navigate the site and find earlier threads with what I want to know. I haven't really used an internet forum before. Sorry everybody! Will stop wasting your time now.

You were using us??? I feel so cheap... I am going to bathe now, and I invite you to drink my bath water...

to think and be your self , to start