Везде
Libertarian Volition and the Problem of Luck
Table of contents
Annotation Estimate Publication content
References Comments
Share
QR
Metrics
Libertarian Volition and the Problem of Luck
Annotation
PII
S1811-833X0000617-8-1
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Maria A. Sekatskaya 
Edition
Volume 57 Issue 4
Pages
87-106
Abstract
The most important difference between contemporary compatibilist and libertarian theories is not the difference in their positions regarding the truth of the thesis of physical determinism, but their different approaches to the causal role of agents. According to libertarians, volitional acts performed by agents constitute a specific type of causes, which are not themselves caused by other causes. In this respect, event-causal libertarianism is similar to the agent-causal libertarianism, because it insists that in performing a volitional act an agent can choose one of the alternative outcomes without being caused to do so by anything else, where‘anything else’ includes all the facts about the past and the present. Since event-causal libertarians maintain that volitional acts and the causal role of agents can be explained naturalistically, they must solve the problem of luck, i.e., they must explain how an agent is able to control her choices, given that she can choose one way or another without there being any difference in her state immediately preceding the moment of choice. This problem arises not from the indeterminism per se, but from the way it is coupled with the causal role of agents. In section one, I consider the historical development of compatibilist views on physical determinism and indeterminism. In section two, I present an overview of conditional analyses of alternative possibilities. In section three, I analyze the reasons why libertarians reject any type of conditional analysis, and show that intuitive objections against physical determinism, which portrait it as an obstacle to freedom, are untenable. In section four, I consider the consequence argument and show how it is related to the libertarian condition of sourcehood. In the final section, I analyze the problem of luck and show that it inevitably arises for any version of libertarianism. I demonstrate that indeterminism is a problem for libertarians, although they need it. And it is not a problem for compatibilists, who, while they do not need it, can incorporate it in their theories without facing the problem of luck.
Keywords
compatibilism, libertarianism, physical determinism, physical indeterminism, volition, the problem of luck
Date of publication
01.12.2020
Number of purchasers
11
Views
449
Readers community rating
0.0 (0 votes)
Cite Download pdf

References



Additional sources and materials

    

  1. Austin, J.L. “Ifs and Cans”, in: Urmson, J.O. and Warnock, G.J. (eds.) Philosophical Papers. Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 205‒232.
    2. 

  2. Ayer, A.J. “Freedom and Necessity”, in: Cahn, S.M. Philosophical Essays. London: Macmillan, 1954, pp. 271‒284.
    3. 

  3. Blum, A. “The Core of the Consequence Argument”, Dialectica, 2003, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 423‒429.
    4. 

  4. Capes, J.A. “What the Consequence Argument Is an Argument For”, Thought: A Journal of Philosophy, 2019, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 50‒56.
    5. 

  5. Cheniak, A.Z. “Znanie i udacha” [Knowledge and Luck], Epistemology & Philosophy of Science, 2020, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 61‒78. (In Russian)
    6. 

  6. Clarke, R.K. Libertarian Accounts of Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 244 pp.
    7. 

  7. Dennett, D. Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1984, 200 pp.
    8. 

  8. Dorr, C. “Against Counterfactual Miracles”, Philosophical Review, 2016, vol. 125, no. 2, pp. 241‒286.
    9. 

  9. Ekstrom, L. “Free Will, Chance, and Mystery”, Philosophical Studies, 2003, vol. 113, no. 2, pp. 153‒180.
    10. 

  10. Ekstrom, L. “Protecting Incompatibilist Freedom”, American Philosophical Quarterly, 1998, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 281‒291.
    11. 

  11. Fara, M. “Masked Abilities and Compatibilism”, Mind, 2008, vol. 117, no. 468, pp. 843‒865.
    12. 

  12. Franklin, C.E. “Farewell to the Luck (and Mind) Argument”, Philos. Stud., 2011, vol. 156, no. 2, pp. 199‒230.
    13. 

  13. Gettier, E. “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”, Analysis, 1963, vol. 23, pp. 121‒123.
    14. 

  14. Gustafsson, J.E. “A Strengthening of the Consequence Argument for Incompatibilism”, Analysis, 2017, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 705‒715.
    15. 

  15. Hobart, R.E. “Free Will as Involving Determination and Inconceivable Without It”, Mind, 1934, vol. XLIII, no. 169, pp. 1‒27.
    16. 

  16. Hobbes, T. Sochineniya v 2 t., t. 1: O svobode i neobkhodimosti [Works in 2 vols., vol. 1: On Freedom and Necessity]. Moscow: Mysl’, 1989, pp. 574‒611. (In Russian)
    17. 

  17. Hume, D. Traktat o chelovecheskoi prirode [A Treatise on Human Nature]. Moscow: Mysl’, 1996, 735 pp. (In Russian)
    18. 

  18. Kane, R. “Rethinking Free Will: New Perspectives on an Ancient Problem”, in: The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 381‒404.
    19. 

  19. Kane, R. “Svoboda voli: uskol’zayushchii ideal” [Free Will: The Illusive Ideal], Philosophy: Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 2017, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 5‒49. (In Russian)
    20. 

  20. Kane, R. “The Complex Tapestry of Free Will: Striving Will, Indeterminism and Volitional Streams”, Synthese, 2019, vol. 196, no. 1, pp. 145‒160.
    21. 

  21. Kane, R. The Significance of Free Will. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1996. 280 pp.
    22. 

  22. Lehrer, K. “Cans Without Ifs”, Analysis, 1968, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 29‒32.
    23. 

  23. Locke, J. “O silakh” [On Forces], in: Sochineniya v 3-kh t. T. 1. Opyt o chelovecheskom razumenii [Works in 3 vols., vol. 1: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]. Moscow: Mysl’, 1985, pp. 283‒337. (In Russian)
    24. 

  24. McKenna, Levy N., McKenna, M. “Recent Work on Free Will and Moral Responsibility”, Philosophy Compass, 2009, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 96‒133.
    25. 

  25. Mele, A. Free Will and Luck. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, 223 pp.
    26. 

  26. Locke, J. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Philadelphia: Hayes and Zell, 1854.
    27. 

  27. Mickelson, K.M. “The Problem of Free Will and Determinism: An Abductive Approach”, Social Philosophy and Policy, 2019, vol. 36, no. 01, pp. 154‒172.
    28. 

  28. Nahmias, E. et al. “Surveying Freedom: Folk Intuitions about Free Will and Moral Responsibility”, Philosophical Psychology, 2005, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 561‒584.
    29. 

  29. Perry, J. “Wretched Subterfuge: A Defense of the Compatibilism of Freedom and Natural Causation”, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 2010, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 93‒113.
    30. 

  30. Saunders, J. “The Temptations of ‘Powerlessness’”, American Philosophical Quarterly, 1968, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 100‒108.
    31. 

  31. Sekatskaya, M.A. “Argument posledstvii i problema udachi v debatakh o svobode voli” [The Consequence Argument and the Problem of Luck in Free Will Debates], Voprosy Filosofii, 2017, vol. 3, pp. 198‒205. (In Russian)
    32. 

  32. Sekatskaya, M.A. “Uslovnyi analiz svobody voli i argument posledstvii” [Conditional Free Will Analysis and the Consequence Argument], Omsk Scientific Bulletin, 2020, vol. 4 (in print). (In Russian)
    33. 

  33. Van Inwagen, P. An Essay on Free Will. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983, 248 pp.
    34. 

  34. Schlick, M. “When is a Man Responsible?”, in: D. Rynin (ed.) Problems of Ethics. NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1939, pp. 143‒156.
    35. 

  35. Vasilyev, V.V. V zashchitu klassicheskogo kompatibilizma: Esse o svobode voli [In Defense of Classical Compatibilism: An Essay on Free Will]. Moscow: LENAND URSS, 2017, 200 pp. (In Russian)
    36. 

  36. Vihvelin, K. Causes, Laws, and Fee Will: Why Determinism Doesn’t Matter. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 284 pp.
    37.

Comments

No posts found

Write a review
Translate