Libertarian Free Will
If every choice is the last link in a causal chain, then responsibility looks like a polite fiction; libertarian free will insists that genuine choosing requires an origin not wholly inherited from what came before.
Quick Facts
- Period
- 1700 – present
- Region
- Europe
- Key Figures
- David Hume, P. F. Strawson, Robert Kane +3 more
Key Figures
David Hume
Interlocutor
Scottish EnlightenmentDavid Hume was not a commentator on al-Ghazali in any direct historical sense, and he did not shape al-Ghazali’s thought...
P. F. Strawson
Critic
Ordinary-language philosophyP. F. Strawson changed the free-will debate by refusing to let it begin in the wrong place. In “Freedom and Resentment” ...
Robert Kane
Proponent
Contemporary analytic philosophyRobert Kane became the most influential late-twentieth-century defender of libertarian free will because he understood t...
Roderick Chisholm
Proponent
Analytic philosophyRoderick Chisholm belongs to the generation that inherited Moore’s anti-skeptical confidence and tried to make it philos...
Thomas Hobbes
Interlocutor
Early modern political philosophyThomas Hobbes is one of the great architects of modern political fear: a thinker who looked at human beings and saw, ben...
Timothy O'Connor
Successor
Contemporary metaphysicsTimothy O’Connor stands as one of the clearest defenders of agent-causal libertarianism in contemporary philosophy, but ...
The Story
This narrative combines documented history with dramatized scenes for storytelling purposes.
The World That Made It
Libertarian free will did not begin as a slogan about independence; it arose from a pressure point in modern philosophy. The trouble was simple to state and har...
The Central Idea
The core libertarian claim is stark: if a choice is genuinely free in the sense required for ultimate moral responsibility, then the complete explanation of tha...
The System
Once libertarian free will is stated plainly, it must be built into a broader account of persons. The most influential systems divide into two families: event-c...
Tensions & Critiques
The most familiar objection to libertarian free will is also the oldest one: if a choice is not determined, then it seems random. And if it is random, then how ...
Legacy & Echoes
Libertarian free will has never been the dominant view in philosophy, but it has been one of the field’s most persistent irritants. Its legacy lies not in conqu...
Timeline
Hobbes publishes Leviathan
**1651** — Hobbes gives one of the earliest modern formulations of a compatibilist account of freedom. By defining liberty as the absence of external impediments, he helps force later philosophers to distinguish voluntary action from ultimate sourcehood.
Spinoza's Ethics appears posthumously
**1677** — Spinoza's deterministic metaphysics intensifies the worry that human beings are not genuine originators of action. His account of the self as part of the necessary order of nature becomes a major foil for later libertarian views.
Hume publishes An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
**1748** — Hume's account of necessity and liberty crystallizes the compatibilist response to the free-will problem. By treating freedom as acting according to one's will rather than without causes, he creates a durable rival to libertarianism.
Kant's Critique of Practical Reason deepens the problem
**1788** — Kant argues that practical reason presupposes freedom, even if theoretical reason cannot prove it. His view does not simply endorse libertarianism, but it keeps alive the thought that moral agency requires more than natural causation.
Strawson publishes Freedom and Resentment
**1962** — Strawson shifts the debate from metaphysical speculation to the reactive attitudes that structure human relationships. His essay becomes a landmark critique of the idea that moral responsibility depends on proving indeterminist freedom.
Chisholm articulates agent causation
**1971** — Chisholm's work helps revive libertarian free will in analytic philosophy by arguing that persons can be causes in a way irreducible to prior events. This becomes a foundational formulation of the agent-causal approach.
Kane develops self-forming actions
**1983** — Kane's papers on self-forming actions begin to provide libertarianism with a more psychologically realistic model of free choice. The view locates indeterminism in moments of inner conflict rather than in random bursts detached from character.
The Significance of Free Will is published
**1996** — Kane's book becomes the most influential contemporary defense of libertarian free will. It gives the position a systematic account of responsibility, self-formation, and effortful choice that shaped subsequent debate.
Neuroscience enters the public free-will debate
**2002** — Popular and scholarly discussion of Libet-style experiments makes the issue of free will newly visible beyond philosophy. Claims that brain activity precedes conscious choice intensify scrutiny of libertarian sourcehood.
Contemporary metaphysical defenses broaden the field
**2009** — Work by philosophers such as Timothy O'Connor and others sustains agent-causal libertarianism in modern analytic metaphysics. The debate becomes increasingly technical while remaining tied to ordinary questions of praise and blame.
Public philosophy of free will expands
**2011** — Books, lectures, and interdisciplinary debates bring libertarian and compatibilist positions into conversation with neuroscience, law, and theology. The question of whether genuine choice requires a causal break remains unresolved but newly public.
Robert Kane's death marks the passing of a major defender
**2020** — Kane's death closes a major chapter in the modern defense of libertarian free will. His work continues to shape discussion, especially on how indeterminism might support responsibility rather than undermine it.
Sources
- secondary referenceStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Free Will
Authoritative overview of the modern debate, including libertarian, compatibilist, and hard-determinist positions.
- secondary referenceStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Libertarianism about Free Will
Broad discussion of libertarian approaches and the main arguments for incompatibilism.
- secondary referenceInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Free Will
Accessible scholarly survey of the free-will problem and its major positions.
- primary_textHobbes, Leviathan
Classic compatibilist treatment of liberty as the absence of external impediments.
- primary_textHume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Foundational compatibilist account of liberty and necessity.
- primary_textKant, Critique of Practical Reason
Important for the idea that morality presupposes freedom, though not a straightforward libertarian text.
- primary_textStrawson, P. F., 'Freedom and Resentment'
Landmark critique shifting attention toward reactive attitudes and ordinary practices of blame.
- primary_textChisholm, Roderick, 'Human Freedom and the Self'
Seminal statement of agent-causal libertarianism.
- scholarly bookKane, Robert, The Significance of Free Will
The most influential contemporary defense of libertarian free will.
- scholarly bookO'Connor, Timothy, Persons and Causes: The Metaphysics of Free Will
Major modern defense of agent causation and libertarian agency.
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