Sublating the free will problematic

powers, agency and causal determination

Ruth Groff

pp. 179-200

in: Synthese 196 (1), 2019.

Abstract

I argue that realism about causal powers (which, loosely following Brian Ellis, I refer to as "anti-passivism') sublates the passivist, Humean-inflected free will problematic. In the first part of the paper I show that adopting what I call "powers-non-determinism' reconfigures the conceptual terrain with respect to the causation component of the contemporary problematic. In part two I show how adopting "powers-non-determinism' significantly alters the nature of the discussion with respect to the agency component of the problematic. In part three I compare "powers-non-determinism' to an otherwise- Humean agent causal position.