Compatibilism

Compatibilism is a big word, but it's actually a simple idea. It's all about whether we have free will - that means being able to choose what we do - even if everything else around us is already decided.

Imagine you're playing a game that's like a choose-your-own-adventure book. You get to pick what happens to the character, but there are only a few options to choose from. The book is already written and you can't change the ending, but you can still make choices. That's a bit like compatibilism.

Some people think that if everything else is set up a certain way, then there's no way we can be truly free in our choices. But others think that we can still have free will, even if all the factors around us are predetermined. That's the idea of compatibilism - that our free will doesn't have to be completely separate from everything else around us, and that we can still be responsible for our choices.

So in short, compatibilism is the belief that we can have free will even if other things around us are already decided or limited.