Chapter 10 chapter Ten

Thus, our idea of ​​free will and necessity diminishes or increases according to how much one is connected with the external world, according to the distance in time and according to how much one depends on the causes from which we consider a person Depends on the phenomenon of life). Therefore, if we consider a person in a situation in which his connection with the outside world is the most well-known, the time between the completion of his behavior and the judgment of the behavior is extremely long, and the cause of the behavior is the easiest understood, then we have the idea of ​​the greatest necessity and the least free will.If we consider a person who has the least relationship to external conditions, who performed his actions very recently, and whose reasons are beyond our understanding, then we obtain the least necessity and the greatest freedom of will. idea.

But, whether in the former case or the latter, however much we change our views, however we clarify the relation between man and the external world, or however we feel that relation cannot be clarified, however How much time may be lengthened or shortened, we cannot conceive of complete freedom or complete necessity, whether the cause may seem to us knowable or unknowable. 1. No matter how much we imagine a human being unaffected by the external world, we can never get the idea of ​​being free in space.Every action of man is inevitably restricted by his own body and the things around him.I raised my arm, then lowered it.I feel free to move; but I ask myself: can I raise my arms in every direction?Then I saw that I was raising my arms in the direction in which my actions were least hindered by surroundings and my own constitution.I choose one of every possible direction because that is the direction with the fewest obstacles.If I want my actions to be free from the "unformed quality" energy, the physical utensils are "formed quality" things. The "reason" is that my actions must not encounter any obstacles.If we want to imagine a person free, we have to imagine him beyond space, which is obviously impossible.

2. No matter how close we are to the time of judgment, we cannot get the idea of ​​freedom in time.For if I consider an act performed a second ago, we still consider that act unfree, because it is inseparable from the moment when it was performed.can i raise my armsI can lift it; but I ask myself: can I not lift my arm at the moment that has passed?To convince myself of this, I do not raise my arms the next moment.But it is not that I did not raise the question of freedom at the first moment I asked myself.The time has passed and it's not up to me to keep it, the arm I raised then is not the arm I don't raise now, and the air I raised my arm in is not the air that surrounds me now up.Gone is the moment when I did my first activity, and at that moment I can only do one activity, and whatever I do, that activity can only be the only one.After that moment, I don't lift my arm anymore, not to prove that I can't lift it.Because at that moment I can only do one action, it cannot be any other action.To conceive my action as free, I must conceive it as it is now and also as it is between the past and the future, that is to say, beyond time, which is impossible.

3. No matter how difficult the understanding of causes may be, we can never arrive at a completely free conception (that is, of no cause at all).However incomprehensible we may be about the cause of the manifestation of will in any action of our own or others, the first requirement of intelligence is to postulate and search for a cause, for any phenomenon without a cause is inconceivable.I raise my arms and move without any reason, but I am going to do a movement without a reason, and that is the reason for my action. But even if one imagines a man completely unaffected by all influences, and only considers his actions at this moment, assuming that his actions are not caused by any cause, the attitude of thinking that the residue of necessity is as small as zero; wide, refers to wide Hong, a kind and gentle person; Faith, refers to honesty and credit; we can't get the idea that people have complete freedom, because they are not affected by the external world, beyond time, and have no connection with the cause. Creatures are no longer people.

In the same way we must never conceive of a man whose conduct is entirely without freedom, governed only by the laws of necessity. 1. No matter how much we increase our knowledge of the conditions of the space in which man lives, this knowledge will always be inexhaustible, because the number of these conditions is infinite, just as space is infinite.Therefore, since it is impossible to determine all the conditions, all the influences to which man is subjected, there can be no complete necessity, that is, a certain amount of freedom. 2. No matter how much we prolong the period of time between our examining a phenomenon and judging that phenomenon, while this period is finite, and time is infinite, there can be no complete necessity in this respect either.

3. However easily understood the chain of causes of actions may be, we shall never understand the whole of it, because it is endless, and we shall therefore never be able to arrive at complete necessity. But, in addition, even assuming that the residual freedom of will is as small as zero, we still think that in certain situations, such as the situation of a dying person, an unborn fetus, or an idiot, there is no Freedom of the will, so that we destroy even the concept of the person we are considering; for where there is no freedom of will, there is no person.Hence the idea that a man's actions are governed by the laws of necessity, without any freedom of will, is as impossible as the idea of ​​a man acting perfectly freely.

Therefore, to conceive of a man whose actions are governed by the laws of necessity, without the slightest freedom of will, we have to assume that we know that there are an infinite number of spatial conditions, infinitely long periods of time and infinitely many causes exist. To conceive of a man who is perfectly free, not subject to the laws of necessity, we have to imagine him as a man who is beyond space, beyond time, and independent of any cause. In the first case, if a necessity without freedom is possible, we derive from that necessity itself the definition of the law of necessity, that is, a mere form without content.

In the second case, if freedom without necessity is possible, we obtain an unconditional freedom beyond space, time and cause, which itself is unconditional and unlimited, what is Nor is there pure content without or without form. Generally speaking, we have two grounds that form the whole human world view--the unknowable essence of life and the laws that determine this essence. Reason shows: 1. Space, and the forms that give it its own visibility—matter, are infinite or otherwise unimaginable.2. Time is an infinite movement without a momentary pause, otherwise it would be unimaginable.3. The relationship between cause and effect has no beginning, and it is impossible to have an end.

Consciousness says: 1. I am alone, and all existence is nothing but me; therefore, I include space.2. I measure the elapsed time by the present moment of stillness, the only moment in which I am aware that I am alive; therefore, I am outside of time.3. I am beyond the cause, because I feel that the source of every phenomenon in my life is myself. Reason expresses the law of necessity, consciousness expresses the essence of free will. Freedom without any restriction is the essence of life in human consciousness.Necessity without content is human reason in three forms. Freedom is the object of investigation.It must be the object of investigation.Freedom is content.

Must be form. Only when the two sources of knowledge are separated, the relation of which is the relation of form and content, does this lead to separate, mutually exclusive and incomprehensible notions of freedom and necessity. It is only when they are combined with each other that a definite conception of human life can be derived. No life is conceivable outside of these two concepts, which define each other as a combination of form and content. All that we know of human life is a certain relation between freedom and necessity, that is, between consciousness and the laws of reason. All that we know of external nature is nothing but a definite relation of the forces of nature to necessity, or of the substance of life to the laws of reason.

The vitality of nature exists outside of us and is unknown to us. We call these forces gravity, inertia, electricity, separation, etc.; but the vitality of man is known to us, and we call them It's called freedom. But just as gravitation, which is felt by everyone and which is incomprehensible in itself, so much as we know the laws of necessity which govern it (from the basic knowledge that all bodies have weight, to Newton's laws), we can understand How much does he know, likewise, of the power of free will, which everyone is aware of but which he cannot comprehend, and how much each of us is aware of the laws of necessity that govern it (from the fact that everyone is mortal, to the most complex economic knowledge of laws or laws of history), we can learn as much about it. All knowledge is nothing but the reduction of the substance of life to the laws of reason. Man's free will differs from any other power in that man can recognize its power; but to reason, free will is no different from any other power.Gravity, electricity, or chemical affinity differ from each other only in the way reason defines them differently.Similarly, for reason, the difference between human free will and other natural forces lies in the definition given to it by reason.Freedom as freedom from necessity, that is to say, from the laws of reason which prescribe it, is in no way different from gravitation, or heat, or the power of plant growth, and to reason freedom is but a fleeting, indeterminate sense of life . Just as the indeterminate nature of the forces that move the heavenly bodies, the indefinable nature of the thermal, electrical, or chemical affinities, or the vital forces, constitute the content of astronomy, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, etc., so free will The substance of power constitutes the content of history.But just as the object of every scientific study is the expression of an unknown essence of life, which itself can only be the object of metaphysical study, so the expression of man's free will in space, time, and causality constitutes the study of history. object; and free will itself is the object of metaphysical study. In the science of living organisms we call the known the law of necessity; the unknown the vital force.Vitality is nothing but a way of saying the unknown remainder beyond what we know of the essence of life. The same is true in history: what we know we call the law of necessity; what we don't know we call free will.Historically speaking, free will is nothing more than a way of saying what we know about the unknown remainder of the laws of human life.