To David Hume the dispute between the advocates of "Free-Will" and the
advocates of "Necessity" was almost entirely a matter of words. The
essence of the question, he thought, both sides were agreed on, and
consequently expressed the opinion that "a few intelligible definitions
would immediately have put an end to the whole controversy." That Hume
was over sanguine is shown by the controversy being still with us. Yet
his recommendation as to intelligible definitions, while pertinent to
all controversy, is specially so with regard to such a subject as that
of "Free-Will." For much of the anti-Determinist case actually rests
upon giving a misleading significance to certain phrases, while applying
others in a direction where they have no legitimate application.
Consider, for instance, the controversial significance of such a phrase
as "Liberty _versus_ Necessity"--the older name for Determinism. We all
love liberty, we all resent compulsion, and, as Mill pointed out, he who
announces himself as a champion of Liberty has gained the sympathies of
his hearers before he has commenced to argue his case. Such words play
the same part that "catchy" election cries do in securing votes. Such
phrases as "Power of Choice," "Sense of Responsibility," "Testimony of
Consciousness," "Consciousness of Freedom," are all expressions that,
while helpful and legitimate when used with due care and understanding,
as usually employed serve only to confuse the issue and prevent
comprehension.
Not that the dispute between the Volitionist and the Determinist is a
merely verbal one. The controversy carries with it a significance of the
deepest kind. Fundamentally the issue expresses the antagonism of two
culture stages, an antagonism which finds expression in many other
directions. We are in fact concerned with what Tylor well calls the
deepest of all distinctions in human thought, the distinction that
separates Animism from Materialism. Much as philosophic ingenuity may do
in the way of inventing defences against the application of the
principle of causation to human action, the deeper our analysis of the
controversy, the more clearly is it seen that we are dealing with an
attenuated form of that primitive animism which once characterised all
human thinking. The persistence of types is a phenomenon that occurs as
frequently in the world of mind as it does in the world of biology. Or
just as when a country is overrun by a superior civilisation, primitive
customs are found lingering in remote districts, so unscientific modes
of thinking linger in relation to the more obscure mental processes in
spite of the conquests of science in other directions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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