The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 SIX IDEAS TO KEEP US HUMAN 719directed" man par excellence. ButSpinoza's own experience clashedwith the new world view of Mechanism- the notion that the universeis constructed along the linesof an intricate piece of clockwork.Ideology overcame experience andSpinoza denied that his will wasfree. I quote from PropositionXLVIII of his Ethics:There is in no mind absolute or freewill, but the mind is determined forwilling this or that by a cause whichis determined in its turn by anothercause, and this one again by another,and so on to infinity.The mind is a fixed and determinedmode of thinking, and therefore cannotbe the free cause of its actions,or it cannot have the absolute facultyof willing and unwilling; but for willingthis or that it must be determinedby a cause which is determined by another,and this again by another,etc. Q.E.D.lFree WillIf the individual does not havefree will, then he is not at libertyto reject determinism! But wherewill a man find a position fromwhich he might judge whether hiswill is indeed free, or not. Theanswer is: Only as he looks withinhimself, at the workings of his innerlife; by introspection, in other1 Spinoza, pp. 74-5 of the Everyman'sLibrary edition of Ethics, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1925).words. Now introspection is ratherfrowned upon today as a means ofgetting at the truth, as not beingin accord with scientific technique.Early science viewed nature fromthe standpoint of the external observer,as a theater goer views aplay. The man occupying the seatin the first row of the balcony isobserving the drama unfold uponthe stage ;he is detached from theaction, is not involved in the play,his standpoint is objective. Theworld view that grew out of scienceis assumed to be the way theuniverse looks to an outsider whois not part of the action, merelylooking in upon it.Once this approach is adopted,what follows? Let me answer byquoting from Jacques Barzun'sgreat book, Science: The GloriousEntertainment: "Pure science wasengaged in sketching, bit by bit,the plan of a machine - a giganticmachine identical with the universe.According to the vision thusunfolded, every existing thing wasmatter, and every piece of matterwas a working part of the cosmictechnology."2 Thus emerged theideology bearing the label MechanisticMaterialism, and human beingsschooled in this ideology cometo think of themselves as merecogs in the world machine. And2 (New York: Harper & Row, 1964)p.21.