Of Liberty and Necessity

A detailed Summary of Of Liberty and Necessity

David Hume's Of Liberty and Necessity examines the theory of soft determinism. This theory claims that our actions are free within a deterministic world. Determinism is the thesis that says "a complete description of the causal facts at one time uniquely determine what must happen next" (Sober 571). The essay suggests that the dispute over free will continues because several terms relating to the problem are "ambiguous." He claims that with a detailed analysis of the words freedom (Hume uses liberty) and necessity, it will become clear that free will is not lost in a deterministic world. Hume's argument attempts to define what freedom is, and prove that determinism does not rule out an agent's ability to act freely. Hume meets criticism as his definition of freedom neglects to account for some issues that are problematic to his vision of free will in a causal world.

According to Hume, freedom is the ability to act or not act in accordance with will. His theory says that an action is "free if it is causally related to the agent's beliefs and desires in a particular way" (Sober 312). He argues that "if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may... This hypothetical liberty is universally allowed t

This same principle of uniformity can be transferred from the natural world to the human interactions, as there is uniformity in the actions of man. Hume cites the importance of history, as it clues us in to universal principles of mankind: "The general observations treasured up by a course of experience give us the clue of human nature, and teach us to unravel all its intricacies" (Hume 366). Hume acknowledges the influence of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, as there are more specific uniformities within the larger spectrum. The causes of actions that do not seem to fit into any regular pattern are often attributed to hidden factors, and the more details you know about an agent and a situation, the more precisely their action can be predicted. But as we unify human actions, Hume contends that freedom is not lost. Actions do not fail to follow naturally from motive, inclination, and circumstance. Hume seems to suggest that our free will is not undermined if we take a deterministic stance. We lose very little as our actions follow the rules of nature and the principle of necessity.

o belong to everyone who is not a prisoner in chains" (Hume 372). This definition of freedom suggests that an action is not free if and only if an agent could not have chosen to act otherwise.

Another problem arises when Sober explores John Locke's Locked Room Theory. "In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke describes a man who decides of his own free will to remain in a room in order to talk with a friend there. Unbeknownst to the man, the door of the room has been locked. The man remains in the room freely, although it is false that he could have done otherwise had he chosen to do so" (Sober 312). In this scenario, Hume's theory would say that the man was unwillingly held in the room, and his decision to stay in the room was not freely made, as he did not have the ability to leave the room had he wanted to do so. According to Sober, Hume's argument errs because it seems to negate beliefs. Sober explains: "For you to have performed some action on your own free will, it isn't essential that you could have performed some other action you had not wanted to. According to Locke, you can perform any action freely even if you aren't free to act in any other way" (Sober 313). In this case Hume's theory is not flexible enough.

Hume places a

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Approximate Word count = 1595
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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