Levels of Free Will in a Structural Dual‑Aspect Monism

This article develops a stratified account of free will within a structural dual‑aspect monism. On this view, the universe is a single ontological ground that manifests both as physical structure and as phenomenal interiority. Agency is therefore not a binary property but a multi‑level phenomenon emerging across different degrees of organization. The first level—illusory freedom—corresponds to the deterministic unfolding of events under universal laws, where freedom is epistemic rather than metaphysical. The second level—emergent freedom—arises in complex self‑organizing systems capable of internal modeling, counterfactual reasoning, and adaptive regulation. The third level—cosmic freedom—reflects the universe’s intrinsic creativity, of which individual agency is a local expression. The resulting model integrates determinism, autonomy, and ontological creativity without reduction, offering a unified metaphysical account of free will grounded in the structural and phenomenal potentials of a fundamentally conscious universe.