|
Philosophers
Mortimer Adler Rogers Albritton Alexander of Aphrodisias G.E.M.Anscombe Anselm Thomas Aquinas Aristotle David Armstrong Augustine J.L.Austin A.J.Ayer Alexander Bain Mark Balaguer William Belsham Henri Bergson Isaiah Berlin Bernard Berofsky Susanne Bobzien Emil du Bois-Reymond George Boole Émile Boutroux F.H.Bradley C.D.Broad C.A.Campbell Joseph Keim Campbell Carneades Ernst Cassirer Roderick Chisholm Chrysippus Cicero Randolph Clarke Samuel Clarke Anthony Collins Diodorus Cronus Donald Davidson Democritus Daniel Dennett René Descartes Richard Double Fred Dretske John Earman Laura Waddell Ekstrom Epictetus Epicurus Herbert Feigl John Martin Fischer Owen Flanagan Luciano Floridi Philippa Foot Alfred Fouilleé Harry Frankfurt Richard L. Franklin Michael Frede Carl Ginet Nicholas St. John Green H.Paul Grice Ian Hacking Ishtiyaque Haji Stuart Hampshire W.F.R.Hardie R.M.Hare Georg W.F. Hegel Martin Heidegger R.E.Hobart Thomas Hobbes David Hodgson Shadsworth Hodgson Ted Honderich Pamela Huby David Hume Ferenc Huoranszki William James Lord Kames Robert Kane Immanuel Kant Tomis Kapitan William King Christine Korsgaard Keith Lehrer Gottfried Leibniz Leucippus Michael Levin C.I.Lewis David Lewis Peter Lipton John Locke Michael Lockwood John R. Lucas Lucretius James Martineau Hugh McCann Colin McGinn Michael McKenna Paul E. Meehl Alfred Mele John Stuart Mill Dickinson Miller G.E.Moore Thomas Nagel Friedrich Nietzsche P.H.Nowell-Smith Robert Nozick William of Ockham Timothy O'Connor David F. Pears Charles Sanders Peirce Derk Pereboom Steven Pinker Plato Karl Popper H.A.Prichard Hilary Putnam Willard van Orman Quine Frank Ramsey Ayn Rand Thomas Reid Charles Renouvier Nicholas Rescher C.W.Rietdijk Josiah Royce Bertrand Russell Paul Russell Gilbert Ryle T.M.Scanlon Moritz Schlick Arthur Schopenhauer John Searle Wilfrid Sellars Henry Sidgwick Walter Sinnott-Armstrong J.J.C.Smart Saul Smilansky Michael Smith L. Susan Stebbing George F. Stout Galen Strawson Peter Strawson Eleonore Stump Richard Taylor Kevin Timpe Peter van Inwagen Manuel Vargas John Venn Kadri Vihvelin Voltaire G.H. von Wright David Foster Wallace R. Jay Wallace W.G.Ward Ted Warfield Roy Weatherford Alfred North Whitehead David Widerker David Wiggins Bernard Williams Ludwig Wittgenstein Susan Wolf Scientists Michael Arbib Bernard Baars John S. Bell Charles Bennett Margaret Boden David Bohm Neils Bohr Ludwig Boltzmann Emile Borel Max Born Leon Brillouin Stephen Brush Henry Thomas Buckle Donald Campbell Anthony Cashmore Eric Chaisson Jean-Pierre Changeux Arthur Holly Compton John Conway E. H. Culverwell Charles Darwin Abraham de Moivre Paul Dirac John Eccles Arthur Stanley Eddington Paul Ehrenfest Albert Einstein Richard Feynman Joseph Fourier Michael Gazzaniga GianCarlo Ghirardi Nicolas Gisin Thomas Gold A.O.Gomes Joshua Greene Jacques Hadamard Patrick Haggard Augustin Hamon Sam Harris Martin Heisenberg Werner Heisenberg William Stanley Jevons Pascual Jordan Simon Kochen Stephen Kosslyn Rolf Landauer Alfred Landé Pierre-Simon Laplace David Layzer Benjamin Libet Josef Loschmidt Ernst Mach Henry Margenau James Clerk Maxwell Ernst Mayr Jacques Monod Roger Penrose Steven Pinker Max Planck Henri Poincaré Adolphe Quételet Jerome Rothstein Erwin Schrödinger Claude Shannon Herbert Simon Dean Keith Simonton B. F. Skinner Henry Stapp Antoine Suarez Leo Szilard William Thomson (Kelvin) John von Neumann Daniel Wegner Steven Weinberg Norbert Wiener Eugene Wigner E. O. Wilson Ernst Zermelo |
William King
William King was an older contemporary of Samuel Clarke and perhaps was an even stronger libertarian than Clarke. A third British philosopher working at the same time was the determinist thinker Anthony Collins. In those days, the argument between free will and determinism was described as the problem of liberty versus necessity. Some philosophers, including King, distinguished between physical and moral necessity. Others did not.
Following Thomas Hobbes, liberty (or freedom) was defined as being free from external compulsion, what today we call freedom of action. This left human choices (King called them Elections), to be determined by necessity (either or both moral and physical).
King and his contemporaries all influenced the thinking of David Hume (1711-1776), and perhaps most important to understand how they framed the problem of free will, they all shared a strong belief in an almighty God, which Hume would later de-emphasize in favor of Naturalism. Compared to the presumably infinite God, men are described by King as finite and limited in their ability to know. Since man (nay every created being) is necessarily of a limited nature, it is plain that he cannot know every thing. The most perfect creatures therefore are ignorant of many things: nor can they attain to any other knowledge than what is agreeable to their nature and condition. Innumerable truths therefore lie hid from every created understanding: for perfect and infinite knowledge belongs to God alone; and it must be determined by his pleasure what degree every one is to be endowed with: for he only knows the nature and necessity of each, and has given what is agreeable thereto.King and Clarke strongly opposed the atheistic materialism popularized by Thomas Hobbes a generation earlier, despite Clarke's enthusiasm for the deterministic physics of his close friend Isaac Newton. Like Clarke, King defends against the charge that the final determination of the will, after consideration of the alternative possibilities, implies strict necessity. But as to the actions of the will itself, namely to will, or to suspend the act of volition, they think that it is determined to these, not by itself, for that is impossible; but from without. If you ask from whence? They answer, from the pleasure or uneasiness perceived by the understanding or the senses; but rather, as they imagine, from the present or most urgent uneasiness: since, therefore, these are produced in us ab extra, not from the will itself, and are not in its power, but arise from the very things themselves; it is manifest, according to these men, that we are not free (at least from necessity) to will or not to will, that is, with regard to the immediate acts of the will.King clearly defines the act of self-determination, making a choice (Election) that was not determined before the choice is made. Election is an act of determination (pp. 229-230). An agent is "self-active," he says, capable of being determined by itself alone. when any thing is proposed to be done immediately, it must necessarily be; but when either of them is done, the power is determined by that very act: and no less force is requisite to suspend than to exert the act, as common sense and experience may inform any one. For Teachers
For Scholars
|
