Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Hermarchus, John Etchemendy and Thomas Hobbes

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5 ideas

16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will

2385	If a man suddenly develops an intention of doing something, the cause is out of his control, not in his will [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: When first a man hath an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite or will, the cause of his will is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (Letters to the Lord Marquis of Newcastle [1652])

2358	Freedom is absence of opposition to action; the idea of 'free will' is absurd [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: If a man should talk to me of a 'free-will', or any 'free' but free from being hindered by opposition, I should not say that he were in an error, but that his words were without a meaning, that is to say, absurd.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], 1.05)

2384	Those actions that follow immediately the last appetite are voluntary [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: Those actions that follow immediately the last appetite are voluntary.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (Letters to the Lord Marquis of Newcastle [1652])

6213	A man cannot will to will, or will to will to will, so the idea of a voluntary will is absurd [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: The will is not voluntary: for a man can no more say he will will, than he will will will, and so make an infinite repetition of the word 'will', which is absurd and insignificant.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (Human Nature [1640], Ch.XII.5)
	A reaction: A nice simple point, allied to Nietzsche's notion that thoughts are uncontrollable (Idea 2291). Even Aquinas, who is quite a fan of free will, spotted the problem (Idea 1854). Personally I agree with Hobbes. Free will is a shibboleth.

16. Persons / F. Free Will / 7. Compatibilism

6214	Liberty and necessity are consistent, as when water freely flows, by necessity [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: Liberty and necessity are consistent: as in the water, that hath not only liberty, but a necessity of descending by the channel.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], II.Ch.XI)
	A reaction: Hume asserts something similar (Idea 2223), but they both miss the point, which is that libertarians about water would have to believe it didn't need to follow gravity, but could refuse to flow. Freedom of will and freedom of action are quite different.