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Open inquiry12 min4 historical perspectives

Can we be responsible if we could not have done otherwise?

Use coercion, habit, prediction, and self-control to separate freedom as alternatives, sourcehood, acting on reasons, and self-understanding.

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  1. Early second century

    Arrian's records of Epictetus' teaching preserve a discipline of volition and freedom.

    Epictetus — What is up to us is judgment and volition

  2. 1677

    The posthumous Ethics explains necessity and human freedom within one nature.

    Spinoza — Freedom through understanding, not an uncaused will

    Amsterdam · 출판

  3. 1748

    Section VIII of the Enquiry presents a public argument reconciling liberty and necessity.

    Hume — Liberty compatible with necessity

  4. 1969

    Frankfurt's article shifts attention from alternative possibilities to the actual source of action.

    Frankfurt — Acting for one’s own reasons without alternatives