Study Notes : Free will and human (Herman Horne)
Interdiction (Introductory Overview)
Horne’s Free Will and Human Responsibility is a philosophical debate-style treatise that grew out of his teaching at Dartmouth College. He frames the central issue as whether human fate rests with man himself (free will) or is determined by external causes (determinism). The book is designed as a clear, balanced outline of both sides of the argument, suitable for classroom discussion.
Key features of the work:
- Written in the spirit of debate and inquiry, echoing Plato and the Scholastics.
- Covers analogous issues in physics, biology, politics, economics, psychology, and theology to show the breadth of the determinism vs. freedom problem.
- Provides a historical sketch from primitive societies through Oriental thought, Greek and Roman philosophy, Christian theology, medieval scholasticism, and modern philosophy.
- Divides the argument into determinist claims, rebuttals, and arguments for free will, followed by a pragmatic evaluation of the consequences of each view.
- Ends with a practical reflection on “the difference it makes” in education, punishment, government, and religion.
In Free Will and Human Responsibility, he mentions several concrete cases:
- Child vs. Parent Dependence: He notes that just as a child begins life dependent on parents and gradually gains independence, humanity as a whole moves from dependence on nature toward self-determination.
> “Man begins his career in the world with the sense of dependence, and gradually wins for himself a sense of independence.”
- Political Freedom: He compares determinism and freedom to the difference between slavery and freemen, or between colonial dependencies and independent nations. This analogy makes the abstract debate tangible by linking it to struggles for political liberty.
- Economic Examples: He points to protection vs. free trade, or the debate over a “closed” vs. “open” shop in labor relations, as parallels to restricted vs. free human choice.
- Primitive Societies: He describes how early peoples lived under bondage to custom and tradition, where deviation was punished, yet chiefs or shamans could introduce small variations — a glimmer of freedom within determinism.
- Religion and Theology: He highlights how deterministic systems like Calvinism or Islam emphasize divine predestination, while movements like Pelagianism or Arminianism defend human freedom.
These examples show Horne’s method: he grounds the philosophical issue in real social practices — education, government, economics, religion — to demonstrate that the free will debate is not abstract speculation but deeply tied to lived experience.
📝 Study Notes
1. Analogous Issues
- Dependence vs. Independence: Human life begins in dependence (child on parents, race on nature) and gradually moves toward independence.
- Physics: Motions can be hindered or free; analogy to human action.
- Biology: Determinate vs. indeterminate variations; heredity and environment vs. mental causation.
- Politics: Slavery vs. freedom; despotism vs. constitutional government.
- Economics: Protection vs. free trade; closed vs. open shop.
- Logic: Determination of terms (from summum genus to infima species).
- Psychology: Mental determination—choices shaped by antecedent conditions.
- Theology: Deterministic systems (Calvinism, Augustinianism) vs. libertarian protests (Pelagianism, Arminianism).
“These analogies prove nothing, they suggest much.” (p. 10)
2. Historical Sketch
- Primitive Peoples: Bound by custom and tradition; gods seen as capricious beings with freedom above law.
- Oriental Thought: Brahminism, Buddhism, and Islam emphasize determinism.
- Greeks: Varied—Stoics leaned deterministic, while Aristotle and others allowed for choice.
- Romans: Legalistic determinism, but also recognition of moral responsibility.
- Hebrews & Christianity: Tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
- Middle Ages: Scholastic debates (Aquinas vs. Scotus).
- Modern Period: Rise of deterministic science, but also libertarian philosophy and practical freedom.
3. The Issue
- Freedom has twelve different meanings; the debate hinges on whether human choice is real or illusory.
- Determinism holds the affirmative burden of proof; free will is the negative challenge.
- Choice is limited by heredity, environment, social context, and probability, but retains social significance.
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4. Arguments for Determinism
- Physics: Conservation of energy.
- Biology: Heredity and environment.
- Physiology: Man as a psychical automaton.
- Causation: Every event has a cause.
- Psychology: Motives determine will; sense of freedom is illusory.
- Sociology: Constancy of ethical statistics.
- Ethics: Character determines conduct.
- Theology: Foreknowledge, predestination, divine sovereignty.
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5. Rebuttals
- Consciousness plays a role in evolution.
- Living beings are not mere machines.
- Attention can strengthen motives and alter outcomes.
- Divine foreknowledge can coexist with free will.
6. Arguments for Free Will
- Historical evidence of freedom’s growth.
- Mind as causal in evolution.
- Energy of attention and introspection.
- Responsibility, effort, remorse, praise/blame.
- Religion as sonship (human freedom under God).
7. Pragmatism and Freedom
- William James, Bergson, and Schiller argue pragmatically for freedom.
- Pragmatism is inconclusive but valuable in showing the practical stakes.
8. The Difference It Makes
- Determinism: Influences education, punishment, emotions, government.
- Libertarianism: Supports responsibility, moral growth, and human dignity.
- Schiller denies practical difference, but Horne insists freedom empowers human progress.
Horne’s book is both a philosophical map and a pedagogical tool. It doesn’t claim to solve the free will problem but equips students to think critically about it. His conclusion leans toward free will, grounded in reason and supported pragmatically by its positive effects on human life.
The author favord Free will
Horne was convinced by free will because he believed that human experience itself provides evidence that cannot be explained away by determinism. His reasoning rests on several pillars:
- Attention as energy: He argued that the act of directing attention is itself a causal force. By choosing what to attend to, humans strengthen certain motives and weaken others, showing that consciousness is not passive but active.
“Attention strengthens motives.”
- Responsibility and moral life: He insisted that responsibility, praise, blame, remorse, and satisfaction all presuppose freedom. If determinism were true, these universal human practices would be meaningless.
- Sense of effort and introspection: Through introspection, people feel the effort of choosing and striving. This inner sense, though subjective, is powerful evidence that choice is real.
- Religion as sonship: He saw freedom as essential to the religious idea of humans as children of God. Predestination doctrines reduce man to a puppet, but sonship implies dignity and freedom.
- Practical consequences: Determinism leads to passivity, while belief in free will inspires education, reform, and moral progress. For Horne, the fact that freedom produces better outcomes in life was itself a strong argument.
