Reasoning for free will

                It is easy to say that one can make a choice that is relatively free or one can be forced (say at gunpoint) to make a decision. The latter act is clearly not free, but could an act not be free that we make ourselves. For example, if someone is a kleptomaniac and they steal then they are acting so out of their own choice, but a choice they have little or no control over. They are making the choice because nobody else is telling them to, but they are obviously less free then someone who does not suffer this disorder. It seems logical that if something is forced on you then it is forced on you by somebody. Compulsions are less clear. Then we get Freud’s idea of the unconscious. We may act in a way that we are unaware of and we cannot control things that we do not know are impacting us. In Freud’s theory though we have the ability to learn what impacts our unconscious by analyzing it and/or seeking help. If we do not seek this help, then that is a choice we make. Not making this choice means we are choosing to be unaware of unconscious influences making us choose to act in unconscious ways. Although this is convoluted, it would mean that even with the unconscious we still have free will.

Since every choice we make has at least two options, it would follow that everyone has free will. Even in the case of someone pointing a gun to my head, I could choose to disobey them and get shot. If everyone has choices and is making them constantly it would follow that everyone has free will. (Obvious exceptions to this would be people in comas because they do not have the mental capacity to make any choices). People choose to act and that means they are free. This would restrict free will to humans for the most part because they are able to think over the decisions they make. Some animals may be able to do so, but most non-humans would not be free because they are acting on instinct instead of reasoning through actions.

Does acting on instinct mean that one is not utilizing free will or can one choose to act on instinct?