Single Idea 2358

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

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.

Gist of Idea

Freedom is absence of opposition to action; the idea of 'free will' is absurd

Source

Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan [1651], 1.05)

Book Reference

Hobbes,Thomas: 'Leviathan', ed/tr. Macpherson,C.B. [Penguin 1981], p.113