Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Jason Melton
Purdue University Calumet
Against Intuitional Freedom:
An Analysis of Causation and Free Will
In “The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom,” Peter van Inwagen concludes that whether our choices
are determined or indetermined, freed will appears to be inconsistent (Kane). That is, whether or not each
cause has a certain effect, or it does not, there is no true expression of metaphysical liberty. Despite the
uncertain analysis in his contribution to the debate over free will, van Inwagen writes:
It seems clear to me that when I am trying to decide between two things to do, I commit myself, by
the very act of attempting to decide between the two, to the thesis that I am able to do each of
them…. [W]hethor we are free or not, we believe that we are - and I think we believe, too, that
we know this. (193-94)
Thus freedom is mysterious, as his title explains. Yet, in his closing remarks, van Inwagen gives his
“opinion” that he has made a mistake in his analysis of indeterministic causation (Kane 194). He modestly
admits he does not know where he makes this mistake, but by doing so, he assumes two things: first that
determinism and freedom are incompatible—a point to which I agree—and second that free will is a brute
fact, something intuitively true. This latter point, I will argue, is not the case. By giving a deep analysis of
causation and citing some experiments, I argue that human will does not have metaphysical freedom.
Before I proceed with my arguments, I want add a disclaimer. This essay will neglect the issue of
compatiblism. Compatabilists use a different definition of freedom than the one I plan to handle here.
Freedom, for the purposes of this essay, is exercised when a choice is made and the agent has a real
opportunity of doing otherwise. The agent cannot simply believe they are free. That is, the agent is not
constrained in any way from going down their choice of one of at least two possible paths.
From the definition of freedom above, it follows that if our decision making is deterministic, than
our choices are causally constrained and freedom is impossible. Determinism is the view that every effect
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