Post #8 Free Will – Libertarianism

    In the last post, we looked at a view of free will, hard determinism, where causation is law in the world, and nothing goes unplanned. This time, however, we look at the opposite end of the free will spectrum, where options are genuine in their existence – libertarianism. Libertarianism is yet another theory of incompatibilities, in which it is stated that free will cannot coexist with a universe determined in its path.

    In general, there are two forms of libertarianism – those non-physical theories, and physical or naturalistic theories. Non-physical theories tend to take on a form of dualism, particularly interactionism, in which the mind or soul as an object consists of some non-physical substance or matter and through some fashion interacts with the physical body to operate as a person. Interactionist libertarians hold that this non-physical mind is not subject to the same laws of physics as is physical matter, and as such is not bound by physical causality. By having a concept which isn't necessarily bound to causality by removing it from the physical plane, such a concept of free will is available to libertarians. However, for those who do not want to part from a world of materialism by introducing another substance, one must use the concept of physical indeterminism and form a physical or naturalistic theory, which can by done through the introduction of panpsychism, which holds that every particle in the universe, animate and inanimate, holds some quality of a mind behind it, which allows similar arguments to the interactionist dualists to be made without the incorporation of another substance. 

    Further division of libertarian theories is into the differentiation between agent-causal theories and event-causal theories concerning the origin of acts of free will. Many events can be explained as the effects of previous actions or events, like a tree falling because of a strong gust of wind. In agent-causal theories, however, the cause of events and actions is the agent who performs the act exclusively, with no previous cause like the wants or characteristics of the agent. Similar to how God is attributed as the prime mover of the universe, agent-causal theories view that we are each prime movers in the actions we make, with no genuine prior influence. Agent-causal theories tend to be connected to non-physicalist theory. Event-causal theorists, however, tend to fall in line with physicalist theories and rely on the fact of physical indeterminism somewhere in the decision-making stage, whether at the beginning of the process at the deliberation stage, or everywhere in the process of performing an action.

    Libertarianism is a view many people subscribe to, as the idea of the existence of free will in every action we make is appealing to the average person. However, Libertarianism has holes just as hard determinism might. In our next post, however, we will look at a theory in which it might be possible for both free will and a deterministic universe to exist.

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