Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas and that it is possible to believe the simultaneous existence of both without being logically inconsistent. Compatibilists argue that determinism is compatible with human freedom and that incompatiblism is not logical and go so far as stating that incompatibilism is incoherent (Compatibilism ", n.d.). This argument will discuss the two arguments. Compatibilism is an attempt to reconcile the theological proposition that every event is causally determined, ordained and/or decreed by God with the free will of man (what is compatibilism ", 2011). Using Christian beliefs, it is possible to adequately defend compatibilism, however logically and philosophically the argument to be put forward would be weak and therefore it would be difficult to adequately defend compatibilism. .

             The thesis of compatibilism was originally put forward by Greek Stoics from the School of Hellenistic Philosophy founded in Athens be Zeno of Citium in early 3rd Century BC and then later by other philosphers such as Thomas Hobbes and David Hume. From a theological viewpoint the thesis of compatibilism was proposed by St Augustine of Hippo and John Calvin and by modern philosophers such as Daniel Dennett (Ross, 2007). Compatibilists believe that the truth of determinism does not preclude the existence of free will (Vihvelin, 2011). One needs to define the two main components of the thesis of compatibilism to fully understand it and flowing on from this the flaws in the argument put forward in support of compatibilism. Determinism is defined in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as "the facts of the past, in conjunction with the laws of nature, entail every truth about the future".(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) and in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy determinism is stated to imply that "every aspect of your character, and everything you will ever do, was already inevitable before you were born "(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).