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Single Idea 2222
[filed under theme 16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
]
Full Idea
The prevalence of the doctrine of liberty may be accounted for from a false sensation or seeming experience which we have, or may have, of liberty or indifference, in many of our actions.
Gist of Idea
The doctrine of free will arises from a false sensation we have of freedom in many actions
Source
David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], VIII.I.72)
Book Ref
Hume,David: 'Enquiries Conc. Human Understanding, Morals', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1975], p.94
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]
|
2385
|
If a man suddenly develops an intention of doing something, the cause is out of his control, not in his will
[Hobbes]
|
2384
|
Those actions that follow immediately the last appetite are voluntary
[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]
|