Sam Harris' book "Free Will" published in 2012
VS09. Necessity is an evil, but there is no necessity to live under the control of necessity.
VS40. He who asserts that everything happens by necessity can hardly find fault with one who denies that everything happens by necessity; by his own theory this very argument is voiced by necessity.
++++++++++++++++++++
The full pdf of Daniel Dennett’s (to my mind, quite cogent and devastating) refutation of Harris can be downloaded here: https://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/…/rifp.2017.0018. Interestingly, Dennett mentions Lucretius’ “swerve.”
Here is an interesting case where Dennett challenges Harris’ claim to have no control over his desires:
Harris: “And there is no way I can influence my desires – for what tools of influence would I use? Other desires?”
Dennett: “Yes, for starters.”
+++++++++++++++++++++
Because of the confusions among various understandings of “free will” (which Dennett addresses) I prefer the term “constrained choice” or “constrained agency” – that is, although facing causal/situational constraints (including endogenous ones, such as native intelligence or ability), nevertheless we have positive agency. That seems to be a version of “compatibilism.”