The view that free will and moral responsibility are compatible with determinism. Compatibilists argue that what matters for freedom is not the absence of causation, but acting according to one's own desires without external coercion.
From Latin 'compatibilis' (able to coexist). The position emerged in response to arguments that determinism threatens free will and moral responsibility, with major developments by philosophers like Hobbes, Hume, and contemporary thinkers like Harry Frankfurt.
Compatibilists say you can be free even if your actions are completely determined by prior causes — what matters is that you're doing what you want to do, not that your wants themselves are uncaused! It's like being free to leave a room even though the laws of physics determine exactly how you'll walk out.
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