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2 - What is free will?

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Summary

Let us imagine a man who, while standing on the street, would say to himself: “It is six o'clock in the evening, the working day is over. Now I can go for a walk, or I can go to the club; I can also climb up the tower to the see the sun set … All of this is strictly up to me, in this I have complete freedom. But still I shall do none of these things now, but with just as free a will I shall go home to my wife.” This is exactly as if water spoke to itself: “I can make high wave (yes! in the sea during a storm), I can rush down hill (yes! in the river bed), I can plunge down foaming and gushing (yes! in the waterfall), I can rise freely as a stream of water into the air (yes! in the fountain), I can, finally, boil away and disappear (yes! at a certain temperature); but I am doing none of these things now, and am voluntarily remaining quiet and clear water in the reflecting pond.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Why free will?

Why do we believe that we have free will? There are several answers to this question, some of them better than others. The first answer is what we may term the theological justification. We are the creation of God and he has imbued in us the capacity for free will. For some, this may be justification enough, although for others it will look like a distinct fudge.

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The Problem of Free Will
A Contemporary Introduction
, pp. 7 - 22
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2012

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  • What is free will?
  • Mathew Iredale
  • Book: The Problem of Free Will
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844655052.002
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  • What is free will?
  • Mathew Iredale
  • Book: The Problem of Free Will
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844655052.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • What is free will?
  • Mathew Iredale
  • Book: The Problem of Free Will
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844655052.002
Available formats
×