The rise of reductive empiricism in science

The fall of philosophy as *mere* speculation, giving birth but giving way to the former in modernity

...And it just doesn't come up enough in discourse. Am I wrong?This isn't really about wether or not Free Will exists, but more about why isn't it directly addressed more.All these modern discussions about racism, classism, liberalism, alt-right-ism, climate change, gender dysphoria, etc. all seem to boil down to two perspectives: those who believe the in cult of self responsibility and those that don't. I'm not talking about as merely a social construct but as some objective corporeal thing.This philosophical debate has taken a back seat the past century or so due to:When people are talking about crime and poverty statistics, racial injustices, gender discrimination, white privilege - the whole potpourri of relevant sociopolitical topics affecting us today - I can't help but feel every faction is doing nothing but talking past one another if they're not willing to address the philosophical elephant in the room - who believes x subject is merely a product of their environment and who believes x subject is merely guided by a nebulous "spirit" of some combination of "good" and "bad" values? Do you think human beings are particularly special or merely driven by complex, multitudinous reticles of stimuli and are basically animals?I almost feel as though people subconsciously don't want to address the elephant because the splinter in their mind tells them that the dialectical path is a novel cul-de-sac - but that's precisely why dressing the fundamental topic in these modern, convoluted predicates produces the same stalemates, regardless.A political liberal can talk about an impoverished black man's environment all day to a political conservative and rattle off all the relevant statistics about police brutality and the effects of structural poverty and racism on the human psyche to a political conservative - but if the conservative believes in the power of bootstraps - none of those facts and statistics matter. Probabilistic Individual outcomes by rational actors are not predicated on environmental effects producing selective pressures - but merely on the power of mind. But one identifies with being data driven and only havingcontrol over their behavioral outcomes, if any; while the other identifies with the traditions of individualism and the power of self-control.And thus, these two are destined to be a dichotomized, binary star system in some rotational waltz, forever. Or at least, until they use up the available charismatic energies and collapse the system.I dunno, but this seems so obvious to me that I feel I'm missing something. I feel like any sociopolitical discourse that isn't engaging with this subject directly is a waste of time, so I've withdrawn almost completely. Political debate in the media is worthless to me as long as it doesn't frame the discussion in this light.I think Free Will vs. Determinism is the Fundamental schism of our time. And we won't move forward as a species until we bring the debate back to the forefront and address it head on. Am I just wrong on this?