III: FREE WILL vs. DETERMINISM - The Libertarian View
The last view to consider here is the libertarian view, presented by, among others, Robert Chisholm. This view holds that determinism is false and freedom, for us humans, does indeed exist. The libertarian, siding with the hard determinist, would argue against the soft determinist that if determinism is true, freedom is impossible. One argument of the libertarian is that when one appeals to experience, there seems to be a prima facie case for freedom of choice. I do indeed feel that I have an option of choices. It is only through a theoretical construction (counter argument: but an extremely fruitful one) that one argues for determinism, and until some exact proof is presented, the argument is that I will continue to believe that I am free. We all hope we are free to choose and are moral agents. If I am a moral agent, then I can argue that a Mother Teresa or an Eli Wiesel command my respect as moral agents while a Bill Clinton does not. While a common sense view at times lacks truth, there is always something disconcerting about a philosophic position that violates our good common sense. The libertarian view does not.