In Of Liberty and Necessity James A. Harris presents the first
comprehensive account of the free will problem in
eighteenth-century British philosophy. Harris proposes new
interpretations of the positions of familiar figures such as Locke,
Hume, Edwards, and Reid. He also gives careful attention to writers
such as William King, Samuel Clarke, Anthony Collins, Lord Kames,
James Beattie, David Hartley, Joseph Priestley, and Dugald Stewart,
who, while well-known in the eighteenth century, have since been
largely ignored by historians of philosophy. Through detailed
textual analysis, and by making precise use of a variety of
different contexts, Harris elucidates the contribution that each of
these writers makes to the eighteenth-century discussion of the
will and its freedom. In this period, the question of the nature of
human freedom is posed principally in terms of the influence of
motives upon the will. On one side of the debate are those who
believe that we are free in our choices. A motive, these
philosophers believe, constitutes a reason to act in a particular
way, but it is up to us which motive we act upon. On the other side
of the debate are those who believe that, on the contrary, there is
no such thing as freedom of choice. According to these
philosophers, one motive is always intrinsically stronger than the
rest and so is the one that must determine choice. Several
important issues are raised as this disagreement is explored and
developed, including the nature of motives, the value of
'indifference' to the will's freedom, the distinction between
'moral' and 'physical' necessity, the relation between the will and
the understanding, and the internal coherence of the concept of
freedom of will. One of Harris's primary objectives is to place
this debate in the context of the eighteenth-century concern with
replicating in the mental sphere what Newton had achieved in the
philosophy of nature. All of the philosophers discussed in Of
Liberty and Necessity conceive of themselves as 'experimental'
reasoners, and, when examining the will, focus primarily upon what
experience reveals about the influence of motives upon choice. The
nature and significance of introspection is therefore at the very
centre of the free will problem in this period, as is the question
of what can legitimately be inferred from observable regularities
in human behaviour.
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