Libertarian Free Will

Libertarian Free Will

The "libertarian" or "indeterminist" viewpoint on free will accepts the free will vs causality false-dichotomy, taking the side of so-called "free will." The indeterminist accepts that freedom is a violation of causality, and states that causality is therefore false under certain circumstances through the whim of God, or some other such miracle.

This viewpoint is not only false on the grounds that A is A and therefore causality stands, but it is further a deadly poison on the face of the believers in free will. Essentially every modern intellectual is a determinist, those that are not basically all accept the indeterminist position that God makes certain exceptions to causality in the special case of humans. This poisons the free will position by equating it with mysticism:

Most of the traditional opponents of determinism have regarded free will as mystical, as an attribute of an otherworldly soul that is antithetical to science and to man's this-worldly reason. The classic expression of this viewpoint is the disastrous Kantian slogan, "God, freedom, and immortality," which has had the effect of making "freedom" laughable by equating it with two bromides of supernaturalism. What reputable thinker cares to uphold volition if it is offered under the banner, "ghosts, choice, and the Pearly Gates"?[1]


  1. OPAR, p. 72 ↩︎