Is Compatibilism Compatible with the Existence of EPR-like Quantum Correlations?

Abstract

Compatibilism affirms that free will is compatible with determinism. «Forking path compatibilism» accepts that «being able to act otherwise» belongs to the essence of free will, whereas «sourcehood compatibilism» focus on the ultimacy of the agent as control source. However, in an EPR-entangled pair of particles, measuring of a variable at one of them instantaneously determines the value of the same variable at the other particle. Recent experiments have finally ruled out any explanation of this phenomenon based on local hidden variables, i.e., either nature is ontically undetermined or is globally determined. The former is incompatible with both compatibilisms, while the latter is incompatible with «being able to act otherwise», but also implies acceptance of non-local hidden variables as the ultimate source of determination in nature with correlation lengths typically much bigger than human body’s length scales: human action would not ultimately stem from the agent’s own interiority. Therefore, compatibilism has to be rejected.