Ted, I’m not sure which philosopher you think doesn’t understand determinism, but I hope you are not talking about me, since I very clearly do not believe in (contra-causal) free will. I am a compatibilist, which means that I fully accept that we live in a deterministic universe (at the least, at the macroscopic level). I also think the issue of randomness is a red herring. As you say, it wouldn’t help advocates of free will anyway.