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Of Liberty and Necessity - The Free Will Debate in Eighteenth-Century British Philosophy (Paperback)
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Of Liberty and Necessity - The Free Will Debate in Eighteenth-Century British Philosophy (Paperback)
Series: Oxford Philosophical Monographs
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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 offreedom 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 center of
the free will problem in this period, as is the question of what
can legitimately be inferred from observable regularities in human
behavior.
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