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Single Idea 19367

[filed under theme 16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will ]

Full Idea

As for volition itself, to say that it is the object of free will is incorrect. We will to act, strictly speaking, and we do not will to will, else we should still say we will to have the will to will, and that would go on to infinity.

Gist of Idea

Saying we must will whatever we decide to will leads to an infinite regress

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (The Theodicy [1710], p.151), quoted by Franklin Perkins - Leibniz: Guide for the Perplexed 4.IV

Book Ref

Perkins,Franklin: 'Leibniz: Guide for the Perplexed' [Continuum 2007], p.156

A Reaction

This strikes me as an elementary difficulty which most fans of free will appear to evade. Thoughts just arise in us, and some of them are volitions. We can say there is then a 'gap' (Searle) where we choose, but what happens in the gap?

The 40 ideas with the same theme [reasons for doubting that free will is possible]:

20192 Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary [Aristotle, by Zagzebski]
20833 A swerve in the atoms would be unnatural, like scales settling differently for no reason [Chrysippus, by Plutarch]
7672 The free will problem was invented by the Stoics [Stoic school, by Berlin]
1854 We must admit that when the will is not willing something, the first movement to will must come from outside the will [Aquinas]
6213 A man cannot will to will, or will to will to will, so the idea of a voluntary will is absurd [Hobbes]
2358 Freedom is absence of opposition to action; the idea of 'free will' is absurd [Hobbes]
2384 Those actions that follow immediately the last appetite are voluntary [Hobbes]
2385 If a man suddenly develops an intention of doing something, the cause is out of his control, not in his will [Hobbes]
21802 An act of will can only occur if it has been caused, which implies a regress of causes [Spinoza]
4837 'Free will' is a misunderstanding arising from awareness of our actions, but ignorance of their causes [Spinoza]
4843 Would we die if we lacked free will, and were poised between equal foods? Yes! [Spinoza]
4844 The mind is not free to remember or forget anything [Spinoza]
4871 A thing is free if it acts only by the necessity of its own nature [Spinoza]
12494 Men are not free to will, because they cannot help willing [Locke]
19367 Saying we must will whatever we decide to will leads to an infinite regress [Leibniz]
19413 If we know what is good or rational, our knowledge is extended, and our free will restricted [Leibniz]
2222 The doctrine of free will arises from a false sensation we have of freedom in many actions [Hume]
5296 Kant made the political will into a pure self-determined "free" will [Kant, by Marx/Engels]
4176 We all regard ourselves a priori as free, but see from experience that character and motive compel us [Schopenhauer]
2291 A thought comes when 'it' wants, not when 'I' want [Nietzsche]
2871 Wanting 'freedom of will' is wanting to pull oneself into existence out of the swamp of nothingness by one's own hair [Nietzsche]
4414 Philosophers invented "free will" so that our virtues would be permanently interesting to the gods [Nietzsche]
7135 'Freedom of will' is the feeling of having a dominating force [Nietzsche]
2624 I cannot prepare myself for the next thought I am going to think [Ryle]
23076 If people always acted without words we would take them for robots [Cioran]
9268 If free will miraculously interrupts causation, animals might do that; why would we want to do it? [Frankfurt on Chisholm]
3446 For Hobbes (but not for Kant) a person's actions can be deduced from their desires and beliefs [Chisholm]
15821 Determinism claims that every event has a sufficient causal pre-condition [Chisholm]
22352 Out of more than a hundred planets, Earth is the only one with the idea of free will [Vonnegut]
2176 There is only a problem of free will if you think the notion of 'voluntary' can be metaphysically deepened [Williams,B]
2181 It is an absurd Kantian idea that at the limit rationality and freedom coincide [Williams,B]
7978 There is no need to involve the idea of free will to make choices about one's life [Baudrillard]
3196 Free will isn't evidence against a theory of thought if there is no evidence for free will [Rey]
3195 If reason could be explained in computational terms, there would be no need for the concept of 'free will' [Rey]
5332 People believe they have free will that circumvents natural law, but only an incorporeal mind could do this [Flanagan]
5345 We only think of ourselves as having free will because we first thought of God that way [Flanagan]
7509 Roundworms live successfully with 302 neurons, so human freedom comes from our trillions [Pinker]
4925 Brains can initiate free actions before the person is aware of their own decision [Edelman/Tononi]
9276 The will hardly ever does anything; most of our life just happens to us [Gray]
23532 The delusion of free will brings a sense of guilt [Berardi]